In the first of dozens of lawsuits to be filed
by prominent environmental attorney Stuart
Calwell, Charleston
resident Cathy Darlene Flint seeks
environmental justice for devastating exposure
CHARLESTON, W.Va., July 24,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A lawsuit filed last week in
Kanawha County, West Virginia,
alleges that Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW), its Union
Carbide subsidiary, Bayer Crop Science LP and other companies
caused Charleston resident
Cathy Darlene Flint to contract
cancer after prolonged exposure to the dangerous chemical ethylene
oxide (EtO). According to the lawsuit, EtO is found in high
concentrations throughout the local area due to the defendants'
reckless negligence in producing, storing and using the
chemical.
A West
Virginia lawsuit alleges that Cathy Flint contracted cancer after prolonged
exposure to ethylene oxide.
Ms. Flint unwittingly spent decades inhaling the ethylene oxide
gas that flooded her community, the lawsuit alleges.
She has lived for more than 30 years directly across from the Union
Carbide plant that used the compound in its manufacturing
processes. She now has multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer
of the plasma cells. She has undergone stem-cell treatment and
ongoing rounds of chemotherapy in an attempt to stall the
progression of the disease.
The lawsuit is led by prominent environmental tort attorney
Stuart Calwell and his firm, Calwell
Luce diTrapano PLLC.
Defendants include the manufacturers of EtO as well as
other companies, including prominent healthcare systems such as
Vandalia Health Systems, Inc., which operates the Charleston Area
Medical Center, and Thomas Health System Inc., which operates WVU
Medicine Thomas Hospitals in South
Charleston. The lawsuit alleges that these
healthcare facilities released the toxic gas into the air when
sterilizing medical equipment — all the while knowing that their
facilities operated without sufficient pollution-control systems
and that the gas would spread throughout the surrounding
community.
A Dangerous, Carcinogenic Gas
Ethylene oxide is a powerful, cancer-causing gas that is highly
reactive, with widely acknowledged adverse effects when inhaled,
including DNA mutations and blood cancers. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), National Toxicology Program, the World
Health Organization (WHO), and the International Agency for
Research on Cancer all classify EtO as a known human carcinogen.
The chemical is undetectable in all but the highest concentrations,
making it impossible for average Kanawha
County residents to detect their exposure to the gas.
"Ethylene oxide is odorless, colorless and everywhere,"
attorney Stuart Calwell said.
"Cathy Flint and hundreds of other
local residents have unwittingly spent decades inhaling harmful
amounts of EtO, simply by living at home, spending time in their
yards, walking along the riverbank or neighborhood streets and
boating on the Kanawha River."
"And the exposure continues to this very day," he added.
The EPA Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool
identifies the area around Ms. Flint's home as being in the
95th to 100th percentile of Air Toxics Cancer
Risks.
Direct Venting into the Local
Community
Among the more shocking claims, the lawsuit alleges
that the defendants allowed unfiltered, purposeful venting directly
into Kanawha Valley communities, even though emission controls such
as catalytic oxidizer pollution control systems and scrubber
systems were readily available.
Ms. Flint is seeking damages from the defendants for this
pollution's devastating effects on her health, and hopes to see
that other residents harmed by EtO can achieve justice as well.
Lead attorney Stuart Calwell of
Calwell Luce DiTrapano is one of the most accomplished attorneys in
the nation in toxic-poisoning cases, with a history of fighting for
environmental justice for communities harmed by reckless pollution.
Perhaps most notably, Calwell battled Monsanto for more than 20
years over its contamination of Nitro,
West Virginia, with dioxin, a hazardous chemical used, among
other purposes, to manufacture Agent Orange. That case finally
settled for approximately $100
million (click here for more detail). Calwell also won
$151 million against West Virgnia
Amercan Water (WVAW) over the poisoning of the water supply in
southern West Virginia.
The defendants are Dow Chemical Company, Union Carbide
Corporation, Covestro LLC, Bayer Material Science, Bayer Polymers
LLC, Bayer Crop Science LP, Specialty Products US LLC, Aventis Crop
Science, Arco Chemical Company, Lyondell Chemical Company, Rhone
Poulenc Institute Plant, Rhone Poulenc AG Company, Altivia Services
LLC, Broughton Foods LLC, Broughton Foods Company, Mid-Atlantic
Technology, Research & Innovation Center Inc., Vandalia Health
Systems, Charleston Area Medical Center Inc. and Thomas Health
System Inc.
The case is Cathy Darlene
Flint v. Union Carbide, et.al. (Kanawha County Circuit
Court, Case No. CC-20-2024-C-773). More information and a copy of
the complaint can be found on the Calwell, Luce, diTrapano LLP
website, here. Local residents who feel they have been injured
should contact the firm at (800) 876-5529.
Media
Contact:
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PRCG | Haggerty
LLC
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(212)
683-8100
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Lucy O'Brien,
lobrien@prcg.com
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Thom Weidlich,
tweidlich@prcg.com
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content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/west-virginia-resident-sues-union-carbide-dow-chemical-bayer-crop-science-and-other-companies-for-exposure-to-cancer-causing-ethylene-oxide-302205443.html
SOURCE Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC