[spacemule]

I'm naturally inclined to be suspicious of people claiming pollution is the cause of a disease. It's certainly possible, and it certainly happens, but every individual case is a sample size of one, and the best we can say is it's likely an environmental factor played a part. On top of this, it seems the claimant has either through frustration or with malicious intent exaggerated or fabricated some of the claims. So, I'll agree with you to be highly skeptical.

On the other hand, it's entirely reasonable to assume that a large corporation would maximize its profits: it has a duty to. If the expected profits exceed the expected costs of breaking the law, guess what's going to happen. Probably the fairest outcome here is better enforcement mechanisms. Unfortunately, this outcome leaves both parties worse off in exchange for an improvement to society.