WASHINGTON — D.C.'s Attorney General filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit Thursday against an Illinois chemical manufacturer accused of poisoning homes and waterways across the city with a pesticide it knew could cause cancer.
Karl Racine is suing Velsicol Chemical in Superior Court, hoping to recover some of the millions of dollars he says the city spent cleaning up the mess.
Lurking in the sediment and on the banks of the slowly-improving waters of the Anacostia is the long-lasting chemical, chlordane, which is now banned by the EPA.
"A good treatment with a pesticide containing chlordane kills all the ants present," a narrator says in a short film sponsored by Velsicol in 1959.
The lawsuit says Velsicol, the sole manufacturer of chlordane, knew then that it could cause cancer. But it kept marketing the product for another 28 years, fouling as many as 30 million homes. It advertised chlordane in D.C. for termites, which are a big problem in the region.
And the lawsuit says Velsicol kept selling chlordane even after a grand jury indicted six executives on charges of defrauding the US and concealing facts from the EPA. Velsicol paid a criminal fine for withholding the information, according to the lawsuit.
"Not only is that just a bad lie, but that's a lie that hurt people, generationally, and our natural resources," said Racine. "Far too often Black and brown communities are forced to bear the brunt of pollution, toxic sites, and contaminated water supplies. With today's lawsuit, we are going after Velsicol," he said.
The city is alleging Velsicol violated the Brownfield's Restoration act and common law, including public nuisance and product liability. It has not published a dollar figure but is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for all its expenses related to Velsicol's promotion and sale of chlordane for both commercial and residential use.
“Environmental justice is a civil rights issue,” said Akosua Ali, President of the NAACP DC. “The long-term impacts of releasing these toxic, cancer-causing chemicals into the Anacostia has had disproportionate health impacts on lower-income, Black residents in the District of Columbia."
Ward 5 ANC commissioner Jacqueline Manning says her otherwise healthy mom, Caroline, died suddenly of breast cancer after spending years living near the Anacostia.
"I feel she was poisoned by the environment. And we need to do something about it," she said. "We can no longer let these companies make millions and millions and kill us at the same time."
Exposure to chlordane and similar chemicals has been linked to prostate, testicular, and breast cancer in humans.
Recent tests found high levels of chlordane on the ground at Poplar Point and in more than half the city's 38 miles of waterways.
The attorney general says it's cost city taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
"One drop of that in a swimming pool would pollute that entire swimming pool," said Dennis Chestnut, former Executive Director of Groundwork Anacostia River, DC.
We've reached out to Velsicol and we're still waiting to hear back.