Hollywood may imitate life but occasionally, it can shine a light and illuminate a shadowy and unacknowledged world kept hidden by lawsuits, spin doctoring and credulousness.

And so it is with Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo who once played the lawyer famed for launching a seminal class action against US company Dupont over so-called forever chemicals. He is now adding a little star power to a new documentary tracking the battle to hold Wall Street giant 3M Company to account for decades of toxic contamination around the world.

The documentary, Revealed: How To Poison A Planet, exposes the shocking extent to which forever chemicals used in dozens of household products from school uniforms and contact lenses to make-up and cookware have spread globally and can now be found in the bloodstream of 98 per cent of the world’s population. The documentary, which will screen on Stan later this month, is a collaboration between the Herald and its award-winning journalist Carrie Fellner and director Katrina McGowan of iKandy Films. It is produced by Janine Hosking, McGowan and Mat Cornwell and supported by Shark Island Foundation, Screen Australia and Screen NSW. The Herald and Stan and are owned by Nine Entertainment Co.

The documentary chronicles a years-long crusade for justice as tens of thousands of communities worldwide discover their blood, properties and water supplies are contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, also known as PFAS. Fellner – whose previous investigations revealed clusters of cancer in communities heavily polluted by PFAS, including the town of Williamtown in regional NSW near Newcastle and an American high school adjacent to 3M’s headquarters - and the documentary makers help uncover alarming levels of sickness and death in Wreck Bay, an Indigenous village near Jervis Bay, where the food and water supply have been contaminated with a forever chemical used in firefighting foam. The chemical had seeped into the community’s waterways, food supply and sacred sites for decades. As with James Hardie, there were reports of authorities knowing about it for years and doing nothing or interfering with data to reduce litigation costs.

The documentary’s release on April 28 is serendipitous as it coincides with fresh revelations of how 3M was alleged to have deceived the world about forever chemicals that emerged during a mammoth US lawsuit resulting in a landmark court settlement at the weekend under which the company will pay up to $A19 billion to remove forever chemicals from thousands of US water supplies. The size of the settlement is so large the judge flagged the risk of bankruptcy for 3M.

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The Australian government is threatening to sue 3M for nationwide forever chemicals pollution after tens of thousands of properties across the country were poisoned, and class actions launched against the Department of Defence that have seen the Commonwealth agree to pay $366 million to settle property damage but not harm to health.

To his credit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese early last year became the first Australian leader to express concerns about the health effects of PFAS. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last October finally confirmed the federal government would ban three of 3M’s most notorious forever chemicals.

Our governments have had evidence of their toxicity for years. But even this action is not enough and leaves many other questionable chemicals in this family able to be used here, despite being banned elsewhere. Eleven other companies continue to produce forever chemicals internationally.

We are proud of Fellner’s dedication to the pursuit of justice for communities and families from Newcastle, Minnesota and Wreck Bay. The Albanese government should now take the next steps to get to the bottom of the health and environmental impacts, and discover who knew what and when. The scale of this scandal, and the invested interest of the Commonwealth, further points to the need for a royal commission with the power to compel the production of documents and witnesses.

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