A major chemical manufacturer polluted D.C. homes, yards and waterways with a toxic pesticide for decades, even after learning it could cause cancer, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine alleges in a new lawsuit.

The pesticide, known as chlordane, was used throughout the U.S. from 1948 through 1988 to kill termites and keep homes, lawns, and farms free of insect pests. It was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1983 for all uses except on termites; it was also banned for termites in 1988.

Racine says the suit, filed Thursday in D.C. Superior Court, is the first of its kind targeting Velsicol, the company that manufactured and marketed chlordane.

“They knew that the pesticides that they were selling as a cure to ants and roaches and things like that would cause health problems, and yet they marketed and sold them,” Racine said at a press conference on Thursday. “No later than 1959, Velsicol knew Chlordane could cause cancer and other health problems.”

Velsicol representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

For decades, Velsicol waged a “campaign of misinformation and deception” to promote chlordane and downplay its risks, according to the suit. Advertisements in the Washington Post and the Evening Star touted the product for its ability to spruce up your lawn.

“It’s the economical way to make your seed and fertilizer investment pay gorgeous green dividends,” reads one ad from 1959 featured in the lawsuit. “Safe and easy to use. Get chlordane today!”

The company also sponsored “educational films,” including Goodbye Mr. Roach, which shows a woman liberally spraying the toxic chemical along baseboards and under a kitchen sink, and workers pumping massive amounts of chlordane directly into a sewer manhole. “The application of chlordane dust to sewers and other breeding places has become a standard practice in many cities,” the narrator happily explains.

The dangers of chlordane got more public attention starting in 1962, when it was featured in Rachel Carson’s landmark book on environmental toxins, Silent Spring.

Like many toxic substances, chlordane can persist in the environment for decades, particularly in sediment in waterways. In D.C., the Anacostia River and its sediment are particularly contaminated.

Chlordane is especially problematic because it doesn’t easily dissolve in water, meaning it doesn’t wash way with the tide. It adheres strongly to soil and sediment, degrading slowly, and has a strong tendency to accumulate in fish, animals, and plants.

The Anacostia River and its tributaries are considered impaired by chlordane by the EPA, and the District has developed plans to reduce chlordane pollution. D.C. has already spent tens of millions of dollars studying and cleaning up that pollution, according to the lawsuit, and could spend hundreds of millions more.

Racine framed chlordane pollution as a matter of environmental justice.

“Velsicol has showed a remarkable — stunning, I would call it — disdain and disregard for the health and wellbeing of District residents,” Racine said. “Their actions had a particularly harmful impact on poor and Black and brown and senior community members, who, in particular, relied on subsistence fishing along the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers.”

Akosua Ali, president of the D.C. branch of the NAACP, echoed Racine. “Not all residents in the District are equally impacted. Race, class, income, health care and privilege all influence health impacts of environmental toxins,” Ali said at the press conference. “The long term impacts of this chemical manufacturer releasing these toxic cancer-causing chemicals into the Anacostia have had disproportionate health impacts on lower-income Black residents in D.C.”

According to the EPA, chlordane is a probable human carcinogen. It can also affect the nervous system and liver: in the short term, it can cause headaches, irritability, dizziness, and tremors. Longer-term exposure to chlordane is associated with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to the EPA, and animal studies have reported liver cancer in mice and rats exposed to the pesticide.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of damages, including “award of past, present, and future costs to investigate, assess, analyze, monitor, and remediate the contamination.”

In May, 2020, Racine filed a similar suit against chemical giant Monsanto for polluting the Anacostia River with PCBs, toxic chemicals used were used in all sorts of products, including caulking, fluorescent lights, and floor finish. The company settled with the District two months later for $52 million, one of the largest environmental settlements in the city’s history.

Racine suggested a similarly quick settlement could be possible in this case.

“I can’t predict what’s going to happen here, and we’re happy to go to trial,” said Racine. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if the company wants to seek a resolution. If it’s fair to the District of Columbia, we’re game. If it’s not, as they say, see you in court.”