The whole story of DuPont and Teflon

Dark Waters

First, what is Teflon

First of all, let's take a look at the big guy in this film-Teflon, what is it. Teflon is a trademark, called Teflon® in English, which is registered by DuPont. Its chemical name is Polytetrafluoroethylene (Polytetrafluoroethylene), the English abbreviation is PTFE, and it is commonly known as "Plastic King, Hara". The material made of it can be decomposed at 300°C, and can be hydrolyzed at 400°C. It is resistant to acid and alkali. This kind of solvent can not dissolve aqua regia, coupled with high temperature resistance and low friction coefficient, it is widely used in nuclear energy, national defense, aerospace, electronics, electrical, chemical, machinery, instruments, meters, construction and other fields. The civilian field also accompanies our lives day and night, the most common ones are non-stick pans, raincoats, rain gear, and clothes.

Second, Teflon and DuPont

DuPont is a chemical products and sales company that was born in the United States in 1802. Its operations involve food, health care, furniture, transportation, clothing and other fields. In 2018, the total revenue was 27.94 billion U.S. dollars and 52,000 employees, ranking 171 in the world's top 500. I checked the information on the Internet, and there are some that are compatible with the film and some are not. For the parts that are not correct, I will take the film as the standard. Next, I will take DuPont as the protagonist and talk about the past and present of it and Teflon.

• In 1938, chemist Dr. Roy J. Plunkett accidentally discovered tetrafluoroethylene in a laboratory of DuPont.
• In 1941, DuPont obtained a patent for tetrafluoroethylene.
• In 1942, tetrafluoroethylene was used in the Manhattan Project (making tank exterior materials), and DuPont was the main participant.
• In 1944, DuPont registered a trademark under the name "Teflon".
• In 1954, Colette, the wife of French engineer Marc Gregoire, felt that since Teflon could prevent the fishing line from knotting, it must be effective when used on a frying pan. In the same year, DuPont started to produce Teflon, which quickly became the company's most profitable assembly line ($70 million in 3 days).
• In 1954, the supplier 3M submitted a report on the toxicity of polytetrafluoroethylene to DuPont. The report showed that it was shown to cause embryonic malformations (mainly eyes) in a mouse experiment.
• From 1954 to 1975, DuPont conducted his own human experiments, infused materials into shredded tobacco, and distributed cigarettes to workers for smoking. Many workers in the Teflon production line died early due to illness, ranging from 30 to 50 years old. And many women gave birth to deformed babies. One of them was Bucky Bailey. In the film, a real person appeared with only one eye and one nostril, and it was not in the correct position. Look carefully.
• In 1975, in West Virginia (yes, it’s the place where you sing affectionately in "The Country Road Takes Me Home"), a farm next to DuPont’s stockyard experienced strange deaths of more than 200 cows, and none of them died. Shows a strong aggressiveness. The owner of the farm, Erl Tenant, dissected the dead cattle, saved the infected organs as evidence, and recorded the dissection process as a video.
• In the 1980s, DuPont tested the toxicity of Teflon. As a comparison, it needed to look for blood samples without C-8 (the carbon molecular chain that makes up tetrafluoroethylene) in the blood, including animals. The results were searched all over the world and they were not found. Finally found in a blood sample of a US soldier who participated in the Korean War. In other words, after the 1950s, almost all living organisms have tetrafluoroethylene.
• In 1998, Tennant found the lawyer Robert Bilott (Robert Bilott), who is the protagonist of the film, through his fellow country relationship. He was a defense lawyer. At the beginning of the film, he had just become a partner of the law firm he was engaged in. , DuPont is the largest client of this law firm. Billot took the case. In the same year, he and DuPont President Phil discussed the matter for the first time, and the other party expressed their willingness to cooperate.
• In 1999, Billot and Phil met again to discuss the matter, and Phil became angry in public. Due to legal procedures, DuPont sent all materials after 1941 to Bilot, which filled the entire archive room. Billot rejected all the cases and spent a year reading all the materials and numbering them one by one. He discovered a chemical substance called PFOA. Inquiry about DuPont failed. Instead, he consulted experts and scholars to find out. It is one of the carbon molecular chains called C-8 that destroys human health.
• In 2000, the Tennant family was squeezed out by their fellow villagers, and soon afterwards the couple were diagnosed with cancer. DuPont sent a helicopter to monitor the farm around the clock. Tennant held a shotgun and slept on a pickup to guard it. In the same year, at Bilot's insistence, DuPont agreed to civil mediation to compensate Tennant (the specific figures are not stated). Tennant didn't accept it at first, but agreed with Bilot's persuasion. The family left the farm that had been run for generations and moved to the town.
• In 2001, Bilot was squeezed out by his colleagues, and his boss continued to support him.
• In 2002, the district court opened the DuPont case for the first time, and there were disagreements on the standard of C-8 content, that is, how much content can be judged to be harmful. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency only started testing chemical substances in 1976. At that time, standards were not established and the company relied on self-inspection. In the same year, the standard-setting group was born.
• In 2003, the families of other victims who provided evidence for Bilot were attacked and excluded, including local residents working for DuPont.
• In 2004, Bilote questioned the DuPont chemical engineer who had received the 3M toxicity report that year, and confirmed that DuPont knew the hazards of C-8 from the beginning but did nothing. DuPont agreed to pay $16.5 million in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency and $70 million in fees to litigation groups, including Bilot's law firm. Bilot promotes more local residents to claim compensation, but medical supervision is required, that is, to establish a medical concept of equivalence between the waste water and waste gas discharged by DuPont’s Teflon production and residents’ health problems. Once the relationship is established, DuPont will Will pay 235 million US dollars in compensation. A guardianship group composed of unrelated scientists was established, and its operating expenses were paid by the law firm. Bilot was under tremendous pressure.
• In 2005, as of Christmas Eve, 69,000 residents received blood samples and each received a remuneration of US$400, which was paid by DuPont. Residents dragged their homes to draw blood, expressing their gratitude to DuPont.
• In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency sued DuPont. DuPont stated that it had to wait for the test results to come out before paying. Residents who did not receive compensation angered Bilot and the witnesses. Bilot was cut three times in salary, and showed symptoms of shaking his right hand.
• In 2010, Bilot ignored the family because of putting too much energy into the case, and conflicts between husband and wife broke out.
• In 2011, Bilot received his fourth salary cut, which was reduced to one-third of his original salary. He fainted and was hospitalized. He was found to be intermittent insufficiency of blood supply to the brain, which was similar to a stroke and was caused by too much pressure.
• In 2012, the inspection team's survey results were announced, and a peer-to-peer relationship was established. DuPont repented and was unwilling to pay compensation. Annoyed by Bilot, he turned to a group litigation strategy.
• In 2015, the group litigation case opened. A total of 3,535 cases were sued against DuPont, and DuPont paid US$670.7 million in compensation. In the same year, the US Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of Teflon in civilian products.
• In 2017, the main components of polytetrafluoroethylene, PFOA and PFOS were classified as 2B carcinogens. Attorney Bilott is still handling litigation for American families who have been infringed.

Third, my opinion on the film

First of all, there is no doubt that the topical significance of the film exceeds the artistic value. The promotion of movies to society and the legal system, South Korea’s "Melting Pot" is an outstanding representative. It directly promotes the government’s promulgation of a minor protection law. American filmmakers also like to put an incident on the screen to let the audience know the whole story of the incident. It will undoubtedly strengthen the public's vigilance and monitoring of the government and companies, and the United States is a country with case law and its role is even greater. It is worth mentioning that "Focus", another similar theme film produced by a team of "Black Water", won the 2016 Oscar for best film and is recommended. On the other hand, when I look at us, there are few real-life movies. I am looking forward to someone bringing the Huawei 251 incident to the screen. "I am not a medicine god" has a good start, but so far no follow-up works have been added. It is worth mentioning that "I'm Not the God of Medicine" is an adaptation of realistic themes, and many changes have been made. Really good movies with realistic themes require the producers to insist on realism from the bottom of their hearts. We may have realistic themes here, but at present, there is still a lack of realism.

Secondly, as mentioned above, the performance of the film is relatively ordinary, and the average audience is easily bored. Even for the audience who likes this kind of subject matter, the last half hour is not satisfactory, because the emotional continuity is not achieved. If one and a half hours before, through a series of details, people's emotions are kept on a horizontal line (it is really flat compared with "Focus"), then the last half an hour has fallen, and there is no climax until the end. The director and screenwriter also knew this, so they arranged the scene of the Bilot couple quarreling, fainted and sent to the doctor, but the story progressed to such a stage, the audience could not be attracted by the plot outside the main line.

Third, some of the plots are not convincing. For example, at the beginning, Lawyer Bilote took the case of the farm. The motivation of the film was nostalgia, and the use of "Country Road Brings Me Home" was used to exaggerate emotions. It was touching, but lacking in reason. Persuasive. In the last half, for example, the characters are all in a waiting state, and the result of the waiting is that DuPont repents. As a senior lawyer, didn't you think of this at first? In the film, Bilot put the blame on the government and DuPont. This is an emotional catharsis. If the film makes some technical explanations in the front, for example, DuPont’s lawyers find a legal loophole and leave it as a way out, then DuPont The company's sudden remorse is much more convincing.

Of course, the film is still worth watching, especially for friends who follow social news. For me, after watching this film, I learned more about a synthetic material called Teflon, and it is around us (European and American countries have banned its use, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of my country only began to demonstrate in 2019. Whether Teflon is harmful to human health is currently only dependent on the manufacturer's consciousness). In the future, when buying pots, bowls and pans, plastic products, and looking at the constituent materials, you will pay special attention to the words PTFE, PFOA, PFOS, and C-8.

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