The Big Sea Documentary Filmmakers Respond To The Surf Industry

Surf Industry Members Association (SIMA) Executive Director Vipe Desai recently responded to The Big Sea documentary, the film linking neoprene production in Louisiana to increased cancer risk of local residents. We reached out to Chris Nelson, the film’s producer, for his take on the response.

It was with interest that I read the response of SIMA (Surf Industry Manufacturers Association) – a trade body that represents the business interests of a multi-billion dollar industry. Wouldn’t it be convenient for everyone if everything in the interview was accurate? That the Neoprene wetsuits hanging unused in our shed weren’t the product of a toxic, carcinogenic process, with links to Cancer Alley. We could all sell and wear Neoprene without guilt and not have to worry about surfing pumping money into the pockets of a multination chemical company that has been sued extensively under both environmental and civil rights legislation. The status quo would be preserved. Wouldn’t it be great if the people of Cancer Alley could breathe easy and enjoy something we all take for granted – clean air. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Before we get into it, I have to say this comment took me aback:

“Surfers looking for a zero impact wetsuit today will have to rely on a strong tolerance for cold and maybe Wim Hof breath exercises until there’s a cleaner alternative.” 

It’s a pretty glib remark from a manufacturing association countering a serious issue where a majority black, low-income community is literally fighting to breathe, fighting for their lives. It feels like quite the disconnect from the situation at hand and the world at large.

At a time when consumers are simply trying to learn more about the products we are buying and the impact of our purchasing decisions, a statement like SIMA’s – which feels like a lot of greenwashing, distraction, obfuscation, and opacity – simply raises more questions. 

For example: why, when many industries are embracing new and more environmentally sound materials and practices, is SIMA so vigorously defending old technology and a material proven to be toxic and polluting? Why is SIMA making seemingly inaccurate, negative, and contradictory assertions about natural alternatives? Why is the surf industry still doing business with Denka – a chemical company whose emissions they know cause the highest cancer risk in the USA? It all seems rather at odds with the SIMA mission statement: To support the growth of the surf industry through fearless innovation and sustainability.

There is a lot to unpick in their response and I think that’s rather the point, so I’ll start with the fact that claiming to be unaware of an event is not the same as an event not occurring. And claiming “no surf brands that we know of are sourcing neoprene from the facility in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley” is very different from saying no surf brands have ever sourced Neoprene from Cancer Alley. SIMA asserts that a go-to wetsuit manufacturer has “never sourced Neoprene from Louisiana.” As they state, this is easy to check. What if they found out that this was not the case? What would SIMA’s position be then?

If a business has ever done or continues to do business with Denka, can it be held blameless? The community fighting for the right to breathe clean air certainly does not think so. For the campaigners, whether you do business with Denka in Japan or Louisiana, you are voting with your dollars to support toxic business practices. We are all aware of the global nature of business and the environment, that actions in one place have implications in another. The campaigners have a saying… “Denka is Denka”. 

“The thought of telling the ravaged citizens of Cancer Alley that their suffering has been caused by surfers – when it clearly has not – feels especially wrong.” 

To be clear, this community has been misled and marginalized by outside voices for too long, by people from outside underestimating their knowledge and drive. Our trips to Cancer Alley for The Big Sea involved us listening to and recording the lived experiences of the residents there. The community groups are leading the story, both in the film we are making and on the ground, all the way to the lawn of the White House. They are well aware of the many uses of Neoprene and the part that surfing wetsuits play, that wetsuits are the ‘poster child’ of the Neoprene industry – selling the dream of a clean, green, healthy lifestyle, made from a product that is anything but. 

“The Denka facility producing chloroprene rubber chips for surf wetsuits in Japan is not connected to any elevated cancer risk per our knowledge”. 

Clearly, this is disingenuous – both the plant in Louisiana and Japan are owned by Denka and are therefore linked to the elevated cancer risk in Cancer Alley. The Omi plant in Japan manufactures chloroprene. This chloroprene has the same chemical composition and properties as the chloroprene manufactured in the US. However according to a Guardian investigation, “the Japanese Government does not class chloroprene as a dangerous chemical, no public records are kept on chloroprene emissions in Omi.”

“One SIMA brand we spoke with were able to confirm none of their wetsuits had ever contained materials sourced from Louisiana within 48 hours after being alarmed by an article in The Guardian regarding Cancer Alley four to five years ago.” 

This is an interesting point, the fact that a SIMA brand discovered 4 or 5 years ago the link between Denka, Cancer Alley, chloroprene rubber chips, and the possibility they might be culpable through their wetsuits. We would be interested to learn if, how, and when they communicated this concern to SIMA? Did this stimulate a discussion within the industry that encouraged brands to rigorously examine their materials and supply chains? What steps did SIMA take to ensure the industry was well-informed? We ask because, for many of the brands we have spoken to for The Big Sea, our conversation was the first time they had heard of the link between wetsuits, Denka, and Cancer Alley.

This is not an easy or popular conversation to have. It poses some difficult questions for everyone. When we learned of the link we knew that in all good conscience, we could never purchase Neoprene again and we, as surfers and consumers, felt complicit through our former purchasing decisions. While this is not a position it seems SIMA shares, we do hope that, as a community we can use surfing as a vehicle to drive real change, through our industry and beyond. It begins with a simple decision: #saynotoneoprene