If you handled aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) on a flight line, a fire ground, or a refinery, or drank water downhill from a site where it was used, the health risks and legal claims now attached to it are concrete. The foam’s per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been tied by independent scientific panels to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, and other conditions, and thousands of individual injury cases are now consolidated in a single federal court, where manufacturers have already paid billions to settle water-contamination claims and personal-injury claims remain open.1C8 Science Panel. C8 Probable Link Reports
What follows is what the evidence actually shows, who qualifies to sue, and what filing a claim looks like in practice.
Diseases Linked to AFFF Exposure
Two scientific reviews do most of the work in these cases. The C8 Science Panel studied roughly 69,000 people living near a DuPont plant in West Virginia and concluded in 2012 that there was a “probable link” between PFOA exposure and six conditions: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol, and pregnancy-induced hypertension.1C8 Science Panel. C8 Probable Link Reports A decade later, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found sufficient evidence tying PFAS to kidney cancer, dyslipidemia, decreased immune response, and decreased fetal growth, with suggestive evidence for breast cancer, liver enzyme changes, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and ulcerative colitis.2National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Guidance on PFAS Exposure, Testing, and Clinical Follow-Up
Timing matters for anyone wondering whether an old exposure can still be the cause of a recent diagnosis. PFOS, the compound most associated with AFFF, has an estimated half-life of 3 to 27 years in human blood.3Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Perfluoroalkyls (PFAS) ToxGuide Cancers often surface long after exposure stops. In one major kidney cancer study, diagnoses came an average of nearly nine years after the blood samples that documented exposure, with some cases appearing up to 18 years later.4National Cancer Institute. PFAS Exposure and Risk of Cancer
Who Has a Potential Claim
Military firefighters have the strongest exposure profile. For decades, live-fire training at military airfields required flooding practice areas with AFFF to simulate jet fuel emergencies. Personnel mixed concentrate by hand, sprayed it inside hangars, and walked through residual foam during cleanup, sometimes weekly, across entire careers.
Municipal and industrial firefighters faced similar risks whenever AFFF was deployed at chemical facilities, fuel depots, or serious vehicle crashes. Airport crash crews kept it on standby for every tarmac incident. Refinery workers operated and tested fixed suppression systems loaded with AFFF.
Protective gear is a separate exposure pathway worth understanding. Firefighter turnout gear is treated with fluorinated polymers to repel water and oil, and those coatings degrade from heat, sunlight, and washing. Dermal absorption is a primary uptake route, and gear itself can become contaminated by PFAS-laden soot and foam residue at fire scenes.5PubMed Central. Firefighters’ Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) as an Occupational Hazard: A Review A firefighter who never personally sprayed AFFF can still carry substantial body burden from what they wore.
Civilians living near military bases, airports, and industrial facilities round out the exposed population. AFFF sprayed on the ground migrates into groundwater, and because PFAS resists natural breakdown, plumes spread outward through aquifers for years. Residential wells and municipal supplies downgradient from historic discharge points can carry significant contamination, and many communities only learned of it when systematic testing began.
Confirming Exposure and Diagnosis
A PFAS blood panel from a private laboratory runs roughly $300 to $600 and measures your serum levels against population baselines. According to ATSDR, the average American has about 4.25 ng/mL of PFOS and 1.42 ng/mL of PFOA based on national survey data. The National Academies proposed clinical thresholds based on the combined total of several PFAS compounds: below 2 ng/mL warrants standard care, 2 to 20 ng/mL warrants screening for high cholesterol and pregnancy-related hypertension, and 20 ng/mL or above warrants additional monitoring for thyroid function, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, and ulcerative colitis.6Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. PFAS Information for Clinicians About 98 percent of Americans already fall at or above the 2 ng/mL mark, so the lower threshold on its own does not prove unusual exposure. Insurance rarely covers the test.
If a lawsuit is on your mind, start assembling three things now: records showing where and when you were exposed (service records, duty station assignments, employment history, residential history near a known contamination site); certified medical records confirming your diagnosis; and, if possible, laboratory evidence of elevated PFAS. Water-system testing data for your address is often available through your utility’s annual Consumer Confidence Report.
How AFFF Lawsuits Work
Individual AFFF cases are consolidated in Multi-District Litigation 2873 in the District of South Carolina, where a single federal judge coordinates discovery and pretrial proceedings for thousands of cases.7United States District Court District of South Carolina. MDL 2873 – Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) Products Liability Litigation The defendants are the manufacturers of AFFF and its PFAS ingredients, and the core allegation is that they knew about the health risks and failed to warn the people using their products.
The MDL has two tracks that behave very differently.
Water contamination claims brought by public water systems have produced the largest settlements to date. 3M agreed to pay up to $10.3 billion in present value (up to $12.5 billion nominal) to help public water suppliers nationwide address PFAS contamination.83M. 3M Settlement with Public Water Suppliers to Address PFAS DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva collectively contributed $1.185 billion to a separate water district settlement fund.9DuPont. Chemours, DuPont, and Corteva Reach Comprehensive PFAS Settlement with US Water Systems Those funds are for utilities, not individual drinkers.
Personal injury claims from people diagnosed with cancer and other conditions sit on a separate track and remain unresolved. Bellwether trials, which would have produced the first verdicts to guide future settlement talks, were postponed in 2025 due to an influx of new claims joining the MDL. No global personal injury settlement has been announced, and payout projections circulating online are not grounded in actual verdicts or finalized agreements.
What You Need to File
A viable personal injury claim requires three elements: evidence of exposure, a qualifying medical diagnosis, and a plausible connection between the two. The strongest claims involve the conditions identified by the C8 Science Panel or the NASEM report, particularly kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, and ulcerative colitis.1C8 Science Panel. C8 Probable Link Reports
Statutes of limitations vary by state but typically run two to four years. Most states apply a “discovery rule” in toxic exposure cases, which starts the clock when you knew or reasonably should have known that your illness was connected to PFAS, not when the exposure occurred. That matters because AFFF exposure often predates diagnosis by a decade or more. Some states extend filing deadlines further where manufacturers concealed safety information. Because the clock turns on facts specific to your situation, do not assume you are too late without having a lawyer look at the dates.
Attorney Fees
AFFF cases are handled on contingency, so you pay nothing upfront and the attorney takes a percentage of any recovery. In the water-system class settlements, the court approved attorney fees of 8 percent, well below the 25 percent benchmark the filing described as typical for this type of litigation.10PFAS Water Settlement. Class Counsel’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs Individual personal injury contingency rates typically run higher, and the specifics depend on the firm and the complexity of the case. Get the fee arrangement in writing before signing.
Veterans: VA Benefits for AFFF Exposure
Veterans can file a disability compensation claim with the VA for conditions they believe trace to AFFF exposure during service, but expectations need to be realistic. The VA currently has no presumptive service connection for any PFAS-related condition.11U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. PFAS – Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Each claim is decided case by case, and you carry the burden of establishing the connection through medical evidence and service records.
The VA is reviewing the scientific evidence linking PFAS to kidney cancer, the condition the NASEM report identified as having the strongest association. That review is the first step toward what could eventually become a presumptive service connection under the PACT Act, with additional conditions possibly considered in later phases.12Federal Register. VA Scientific Assessment of PFAS Exposure and Kidney Cancer No timeline has been announced.
You do not have to wait for a presumption to file. Pull service records showing assignments to installations where AFFF was used, gather medical records documenting your diagnosis, and submit the claim with whatever supporting evidence connects PFAS to your condition. Veterans can also request a free environmental health registry evaluation through their local VA Environmental Health Coordinator, which documents potential exposure for future reference. The registry evaluation does not require VA healthcare enrollment and is separate from the disability compensation process.13U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Environmental Health Registry Evaluation for Veterans
A VA disability award and an MDL settlement are separate recoveries from separate systems. A veteran with a qualifying diagnosis and documented exposure can pursue both.