3M: The Wrong Rock, Post-it Notes, Combat Earplugs and PFAS Settlements

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In 1902, five businessmen in Two Harbors, Minnesota, set out to mine corundum for grinding wheels and dug up anorthosite instead, a rock too soft to be useful. The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company moved to Duluth, switched to sandpaper and did not pay a dividend until 1916. Under executive William L. McKnight, 3M built a culture that tolerated failure, and accidents became products: a fluorochemical spill on an assistant's tennis shoe in 1952 led chemists Patsy Sherman and Samuel Smith to Scotchgard, and a failed 1977 sticky bookmark called Press 'n Peel became the Post-it Note after free samples handed out in Boise, Idaho, in 1978 won over 95 percent of users.

3M went on to make Nextel simulated blood for the 1978 film Dawn of the Dead, the first asthma inhaler, the first CFC-free inhaler and the N95 respirator, approved in 1972. During COVID-19, the Defense Production Act and a dispute over exports to Canada led to a C$70 million mask plant in Brockville, Ontario. The legal bills have been enormous: $6 billion in 2023 to settle claims from over 140,000 service members over Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2, and $10.3 billion that year to settle PFAS claims from U.S. public water systems, after an $850 million Minnesota settlement in 2018.

• In 1996, 3M spun off its floppy disk and film business as Imation, shedding 20 percent of sales but only 5 percent of profits.
• The earplugs came with the 2008 purchase of Aearo Technologies; internal emails showed they cost about 85 cents to make and were billed at $7.63 a pair.
• A 2016 whistleblower complaint by competitor Moldex-Metric led to a $9.1 million settlement with the U.S. government in 2018, without admitting liability.
• Contamination from a 3M plant in Belgium has cost the Flemish government over 63 million euros, and Australia sued in May 2026 for over A$2 billion.
• In 2024, 3M spun off its healthcare business as Solventum and named aerospace and defense veteran William M. Brown as CEO.