The Poison Detectives

Episode 3

March 4th 2024

The Best Regulations Money Can Buy

Subscribe to The Poison Detectives on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Lawyer Rob Bilott completes the promise he made to his grandmother and has to decide if he will go back to corporate law or continue to fight the multinational company, Dupont. He tries to get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over the fight but gets nowhere.

And a high-level U.S. government scientist explains how regulation really works.

Still, Bilott manages to get Dupont to pay for a study of 70,000 people who drank water poisoned by the company’s waste.

Meanwhile, Diane Cotter and Graham Peaslee cobble together the money for a study on PFAS chemicals in firefighters’ turnout gear. A robust study is needed to get the results published.

Got questions or comments? Email us at [email protected]

Subscribe to The Poison Detectives on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A firefighter’s wife and a corporate lawyer in different parts of the U.S. get pulled into solving separate mysteries. Something was making cows die and deer hemorrhage to death in West Virginia. That same something could also be giving firefighters cancer — all over the country.

When the lawyer and the firefighter’s wife met, they found out they were working on the same mystery.

The mystery was caused by a human-made chemical that environmental regulators should have known about but didn’t. A chemical that is said to be so toxic, it is unclear if any contact with it is safe.

The chemical was created by a corporate giant, and then another corporate giant began using it to provide the world with so-called revolutionary products. Products that come with a very steep price.

This is a fascinating story of two people unravelling a ball of yarn that would reveal the poisoning of the world.

Funding for this podcast came from Dragonfly Ventures and the Institute for Sustainability, Education and Action.

The Poison Detectives podcast is also Supported by Creative BC and the Province of British Columbia.

We are crowdfunding to cover the cost of this podcast.

If you'd like to contribute, as little as five dollars per month can help support this work.

Support the podcast

See all episodes