Dark Waters: what DuPont scandal can teach companies about doing the right thing
Koen Heimeriks, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick and Irina Surdu, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick Dark Waters, starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, launches in Europe on February 28. It tells of the toxic spills scandal that ultimately led to US chemicals giant DuPont paying US$671 million (£516 million) to settle more than 3,500 lawsuits in 2017. The company’s plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia had been contaminating the local water supply with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C-8, which is used to make products such as Teflon. The contamination had a “probable link with six illnesses” among the local population, including kidney and testicular cancer. DuPont had used C-8 since the 1950s. It had known since the early 1980s that the chemical was toxic to humans but only agreed in 2006 to phase out its use. Though the company continued to deny wrongdoing, it has become one of the classic cases in which business leaders purs...