New Milford residents are taking longtime town employer Kimberly-Clark to court, claiming the manufacturing process could put residents' health at risk.
Kimberly-Clark is a large-scale manufacturer of recognizable paper products, including Scott's, Huggies and Kleenex.
Residents say the New Milford plant's emissions carry toxic chemicals known as PFAS that they claim have contaminated private water wells. Exposure to PFAS chemicals has been linked to increased cancer risks, as well as hormonal and reproductive harm.
A Kimberly-Clark spokesperson called the allegations unfounded - saying they don’t use PFAS in any of their U.S. consumer products.
The plaintiffs are asking for $5 million in damages, a medical monitoring program and PFAS filtration systems to be installed at Kimberly-Clark.