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FOREVER CHEMICALS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Texas Attorney General sues 3M, DuPont over Mitsui Chemicals develops patent chat platform

PFAS-linked products using generative AI

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continued to market PFAS products Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals has deve-
is suing chemical manufacturers 3M and and chemicals in Texas and elsewhere loped a platform equipped with a
DuPont for “failing to disclose health risks as safe for consumer use, misrepresent proprietary generative AI chat system,
and environmental harms” related to their their environmental and biological and has begun demonstration testing
marketing of products that contain per risks, and conceal risks of harm from of this platform in its various divisions
and polyfl uoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. the public,” the fi ling said. and R&D centre. The platform is
intended to meet the highly specialised
Paxton fi led the complaint in the The lawsuit also accuses DuPont of needs of the chemical industry, such as
US Northern District Court of Texas looking to restructure in order to avoid reading experiment data tables, under-
which alleged the two chemical manu- legal liability for its PFAS manufactur- standing chemical structures and more.
facturers – along with the subsidiaries continued to market their benefi cial use ing. Mr. Paxton alleged that DuPont’s
that are legally responsible for Du- in ordinary household products, the com- spinoff of its performance chemicals The company is targeting to con-
Pont’s historical liabilities – engaged plaint alleged. 3M created two chemicals business – which includes Tefl on and clude demonstration testing within
in deceptive trade practices related to in the PFAS family – Perfl uorooctane Sul- other chemicals – into a separate com- fi scal 2024, and move to fully implement
PFAS-containing products like Tefl on, fonic Acid (PFOS) and Perfl uorooctanoic pany, Chemours, was the fi rst step. The the platform in fi scal 2025. aid in exploring new use cases and in can be expected when using these
Scotchguard and Stainmaster. Acid (PFOA) – in the 1940s, with DuPont next step was a merger with Dow that suggesting use case candidates. Third is features to analyse technical documents
purchasing PFOA from 3M in 1951, would shuffl e the liability of both of the Mitsui Chemicals said this initiative the sales proposal feature, which looks that include chemical structure formulas
PFAS are known as “forever chemi- according to the lawsuit. The complaint companies, Mr. Paxton said, and also will help advance digital transforma- through both internal data and web in- and data tables. The sales proposal
cals” because they are persistent, bioaccu- alleges that the two companies have known the spinoff of a parent company, Corteva, tion (DX) across its business domains, formation and extracts any information feature will be capable of obtaining and
mulative, and toxic. Exposure in humans since the 1960s the chemicals caused to assume those liabilities. However, in turn aiding the “creation of ideas related to sales activities. This can be analysing not only data in the form of
may be associated with diseases such as health and environmental harms and “as Mr. Paxton noted that the North Carolina for new product development and the used for tasks such as conducting mar- written language but also data tables,
cancer and thyroid disease, and PFAS con- early as the 1970s – knew that their PFAS Supreme Court has since found that growth of both product top lines (sales ket research, suggesting new sales leads the structural formulas of chemical
tamination accumulates in animals, plants, chemistry was already building-up in the DuPont De Nemours – referred to as revenue) and market share”. In combi- and analysing the competition. compounds and more, helping meet the
drinking water, and human blood over blood of most Americans.” “New DuPont” by the suit – and Corteva ning generative AI with the chemical complex data processing needs unique
time. For decades, 3M and DuPont knew are both legally liable for DuPont’s expertise of Mitsui Chemicals’ re- Mitsui Chemicals said the demon- to the chemical sector,” it added. Mitsui
about the dangers of these chemicals but “Despite this knowledge, defendants historical PFAS manufacturing. searchers and engineers, the project is stration testing has found that using Chemicals intends to use the informa-
expected to bring about new value that these features in patent searches and in tion acquired through this initiative to
PROJECT UPDATE could not be achieved with conventional searching for new use cases reduces the actively pursue industry-academia ties
Vulcan secures fi nancing for German lithium and methods. time required for these tasks by 80%. and collaboration between companies,
“Particularly substantial optimisation contributing in turn to the development
renewable energy project come equipped with three features. (compared to conventional methods) of the chemical industry as a whole.
The newly developed platform will

Export Finance Australia (EFA) Valley, Germany, the integrated renew- Vulcan Energy’s Chief Financial First is the patent analysis feature, COSMETIC REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
has conditionally approved a €120-mn able energy and lithium project aims to Offi cer Ms. Felicity Gooding com- which searches through large amounts Registrar Corp acquires UK’s PCR Group
($126.8-mn) commitment for Vulcan decarbonise the lithium supply chain mented, “As an Australian and Frank- of patent data to fi nd information that
Energy’s phase one Lionheart integrated for EVs while providing renewable furt dual-listed company, the backing answers the user’s question. This will Registrar Corp, the US-based Registrar’s expertise in US FDA
lithium and renewable energy project in heat and power to local communities. of Australia’s export credit agency fur- be useful in patent searches, as well cosmetics compliance company, has compliance with PCR’s specialised
Germany. Vulcan Energy is an Australia- The fi rst-phase Lionheart project tar- ther deepens the relationship between as in identifying issues and analysing acquired Personal Care Regulatory (PCR) knowledge in EU and UK cosmetic
based lithium chemicals and renewable gets production of 24-ktpa of lithium Australia and Germany, at a time when technology trends. Group, a cosmetic regulatory, toxicology, regulations. With a combined team of
energy fi rm. hydroxide monohydrate (LHM), suffi - securing global supply chain security is and compliance company based in experienced toxicologists and regula-
cient for approximately 500,000 EVs. paramount. The Lionheart Project will The second feature is the new the UK and Ireland. This acquisition tory specialists, the partnership enables
The approval is contingent on Vulcan will supply key automotive and build Australia’s sovereign capability use case search feature, which looks extends Registrar’s global regulatory Registrar to deliver end-to-end cosme-
fi nal due diligence and legal documen- battery manufacturers in the European in Adsorption-type direct lithium through large volumes of patent data compliance capabilities. tic compliance services, including act-
tation, including an Australian export supply chain, including Stellantis, its extraction, the lowest-cost form of and extracts the information required ing as a company’s Responsible Person
contract. Located in the Upper Rhine fourth-largest shareholder. lithium production.” for exploring new use cases. This will The acquisition brings together in the UK and EU.

158 Chemical Weekly January 14, 2025 Chemical Weekly January 14, 2025 159

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