Why One Environmental Underwriter Wants You to Take PFAS Seriously : Risk & Insurance

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Toby Smith of Ironshore Environmental explains how insurers should react to this emerging contaminant, and why it’s important to stay disciplined.

Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are the next big environmental threat. The man-made chemicals, which resist degradation and can persist in the environment for decades, have already been alleged to cause a variety of health impacts, including cancer. Used in everything from non-stick cookware, grease-resistant packaging, textile stain repellant and firefighting foams, PFAS were used heavily by manufacturers for about 50 years.

Toby Smith, president, Ironshore Environmental

Now that the threat to public health is known, regulation is inevitable. Class action litigation has already yielded multimillion-dollar verdicts.

But much is still unknown, including the severity of the chemicals’ impact on health and the extent of litigation exposure borne by manufacturers, product distributors, waste disposal and any party in the PFAS supply chain.

That makes it difficult for environmental insurers to know exactly what to make of this risk. We spoke with Toby Smith, president, Ironshore Environmental, to find out how environmental underwriters are reacting.

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