CHARLESTON – A Charleston woman has sued a host of chemical companies for exposure to a cancer-causing oxide.
Cathy Darlene Flint filed her complaint July 15 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Union Carbide, Dow Chemical, Bayer Crop Science and others for alleged exposure to ethylene oxide, also known as EtO.
A press release says Flint’s lawsuit is the first of dozens of similar ones to be filed by Charleston attorney Stuart Calwell.
Stuart Calwell
| cldlaw.com
“Ethylene oxide is odorless, colorless and everywhere,” 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.”
Calwell said he expects to file dozens of similar lawsuits in the coming weeks. Based on inquiries the law firm of Calwell Luce diTrapano has received, he said there could be hundreds of plaintiffs filing complaints.
The firm says residents, workers and others in Institute, North Charleston, South Charleston and nearby areas are at the most risk for EtO exposure.
According to Flint’s complaint, EtO is found in high concentrations throughout the Kanawha Valley because the defendants’ reckless negligence in producing, storing and using the chemical.
According to Calwell, EtO has been used by chemical manufacturing plants in the Kanawha Valley since the 1930s. He says hundreds of thousands of pounds of the chemical have been released into the air by local chemical plants and others. He says it alters a person's DNA, negatively impacts the nervous system and causes cancer and other serious diseases.
EtO is used to make other chemicals and finished products in the chemical industry, and it is used as a sterilant for medical equipment, herbs, and some food products.
That’s why the list of defendants include – in addition to the manufacturers of EtO – local 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. It says 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
Flint claims she unwittingly spent decades inhaling EtO gas that flooded her community. She has lived for more than 30 years directly across from the Union Carbide plant that used the compound in its manufacturing processes.
The 34-page complaint (that also includes nearly 200 page of exhibits and attachments) alleges 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.
Flint now has multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the plasma cells, and has undergone stem-cell treatment and ongoing rounds of chemotherapy to try to stall the disease, according to the complaint.
Calwell calls EtO 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, National Toxicology Program, the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer all classify EtO as a known human carcinogen.
Calwell says the EPA Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool identifies the area around Flint’s home as being in the 95th to 100th percentile of Air Toxics Cancer Risks.
Calwell and his firm have a history with such cases. He spearheaded litigation against Monsanto for more than 20 years about its contamination of Nitro with dioxin to manufacturer Agent Orange. That case settled for about $100 million. More recently, his firm won a $151 million settlement against West Virginia-American Water Company over poison emissions into the water supply. He and his firm also have filed exposure lawsuits across the country.
The complaint accuses the defendants of strict liability abnormally dangerous activity, nuisance, continuing nuisance, absolute nuisance and negligent conduct.
Ms. Flint is seeking general, special, compensatory and punitive damages from the defendants for this pollution’s effects on her health as well as pre-judgment interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The defendants named in the complaint 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.
According to Calwell Luce diTrapano’s website, residents who feel they have been injured are asked to call the firm at (800) 876-5529.
In addition to Calwell, Flint is being represented by John H. Skaggs and D. Christopher Hedges of Calwell Luce diTrapano. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Stephanie Abraham.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 24-C-773