Washington, D.C. officials filed a lawsuit against chemical manufacturer Velsicol for the illegal sale and distribution of chlordane, a harmful pesticide that has been banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since 1988. 

The lawsuit, led by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, alleges that Velsicol violated the District’s Brownfield Revitalization Act, which regulates the cleanup of contaminated sites, and common law for public nuisance and product liability by continuing to sell chlordane products for decades. This came despite the company knowing for nearly 60 years that the pesticide can cause cancer and other serious health issues. Since then, Velsicol has continued to run misinformation campaigns, including marketing chlordane for household use, to deceive the public and continue profiting from chlorodane’s sale.

Racine said the lawsuit seeks to reconcile harm that D.C. residents faced as a result of Velsicol’s distribution of chlordane.

“Our office prioritizes enforcing D.C.’s environmental laws to combat the climate crisis, fight for environmental justice, and ensure that every District resident has access to clean air and water,” Racine said in a press release. “With today’s lawsuit, we are going after Velsicol which –– for decades –– made dollar after dollar of profit while poisoning D.C. residents with dangerous chemicals that they knew caused severe health problems, including cancer.” 

Velsicol did not reply to a request for comment from The Hoya in time for publication.

Chlordane is a pollutant that can remain in organic material for decades after its use, according to Jesse Meiller, an environmental toxicologist and associate teaching professor at Georgetown University.

“Chlordane has been shown to bioaccumulate in organisms and be transferred up the food chain through biomagnification,” Meiller wrote to The Hoya. “This bioaccumulation is an issue for people that are eating the fish from waterways where chlordane still persists. It has also been found in the air of homes that were treated for termites using chlordane 20 years ago.”

Chlordane can also cause serious health issues, including cancer, according to Meiller.

“Chlordane is classified as a probable human carcinogen,” Meiller wrote. “This is based on studies done in rats and mice which developed cancers in the liver following exposures. Chlordane also has other non-cancer adverse effects as well. It has been shown to be a reproductive toxicant, an endocrine disruptor, and to cause adverse effects in the liver.”

The harmful impact of chlordane usage is likely magnified among vulnerable communities, especially those with less reliable access to healthcare resources such as the District’s Black and brown communities, Racine said.

“The environment is a precious resource that belongs to everyone, and far too often Black and Brown communities of color are forced to bear the brunt of pollution, toxic sites and contaminated water supplies,” Racine said. 

According to a report published by the Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS) in 2020, Black residents in Washington, D.C., on average live shorter, less healthy lives than white residents because of systemic disparities in health care, education and wealth.

Chlordane does not easily dissolve in water, and therefore can build up in D.C. waterways, including the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, harming District residents who drink water contaminated by the chemical.

According to Amber Mickelson (COL ’25), who serves as academic chair of the Georgetown Undergraduate Environmental Health Collaborative (GUEHC), she worries that the flow of these rivers into higher-risk neighborhoods in the District could have dangerous public health impacts.

“This means that any chemicals flowing downstream through those rivers are going to be disproportionately settling in the soil of Wards 7 and 8, where the population of those wards are on average 96.22% people of color and are at higher risk of living in poverty,” Mickelson wrote to the Hoya.

Mickelson said she remains hopeful that the lawsuit is a step toward greater accountability for those polluting D.C. ecosystems and waterways.

“Our environment shapes our health, and when that environment has been ruined by companies seeking profit over people, we need to see accountability,” Mickelson wrote. “Ultimately, lawsuits like these are needed to bring justice to the generations of the past, present, and future.”