3M Accused by Investors of Hiding PFAS Toxicity, Liability

3M Co. was hit with a would-be class action alleging it spent decades hiding internal evidence on the toxicity of a group of man-made chemicals and suppressing any negative information about the substances.

The manufacturing conglomerate publicly denied that the chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances could harm humans and the environment despite knowing PFAS are toxic, the complaint filed July 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey said. It appears to be one of the first securities class actions by private investors.

• 3M didn’t tell investors “intentional concealment” of toxic harm increased the ...