"Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine (D) on Thursday announced a lawsuit against chemical manufacturer Velsicol, alleging the company contaminated waterways in the city and harmed the health of residents in predominantly minority neighborhoods.

The complaint alleged that no later than 1959, Velsicol was given private lab studies indicating that a chemical called chlordane, included in a pesticide compound the company manufactured, caused birth defects in animals, and by the early 70s knew that tests linked it to liver cancer.

The lawsuit argues that despite this internal knowledge, Velsicol conducted an aggressive campaign to assuage concerns about the chemical’s safety, including threatening to sue the publisher of “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 book on the environmental impact of pesticides."

Zack Budryk reports for The Hill October 13, 2022. [2]