Broad PFAS exclusions endorsed by Insurance Services Office last year have made coverage denials effectively standard across the industry, reflecting insurers’ view that “forever chemical” liabilities cannot be priced reliably.
More than 9,800 U.S. lawsuits against 357 companies since 1999 and nearly $16 billion in settlements have turned long-hidden contamination into escalating financial exposure; Chemours this month also agreed to spend over $450 million in a federal enforcement settlement.
PFAS claims are hard to insure because damage can surface a decade or more after pollution, the chemicals can persist for hundreds to thousands of years, and drinking-water exposure is linked to more than 6,800 cancer cases annually.
That retreat does not confine costs to PFAS makers: insurers spread losses through higher premiums, while reinsurance offers only a temporary backstop as the industry labels PFAS the “new asbestos.”
Congressional threats to weaken the Toxic Substances Control Act could deepen that market failure, the report argues, because litigation and settlements punish past harm but do not stop new PFAS from entering supply chains.