Environmental Working Group last week called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to fine DuPont for illegally hiding information about the risks of injury from the synthetic chemical Perflourooctanoic Acid (PFOA), which is used to manufacture some Teflon products.
Teflon is one of DuPont’s most valuable assets, but it’s potentially a huge liability for the company.
Last month the EPA filed a complaint against DuPont for allegedly withholding a human birth defect study and water contamination data, from the agency, regarding PFOA from June of 1981 through March of 2001.
The agency charged the company with two violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and one violation of the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Companies are required by TSCA to report such information immediately.
EPA has the authority to seek a penalty of $25,000 per day for violations occurring before January 30, 1997, and up to $27,500 per day for violations occurring thereafter, for each day that DuPont failed to report the information. The total penalty could add up to $300 million.
DuPont said last month it would file a formal denial to the complaint issued by the EPA over its alleged failure to comply with the technical reporting requirements of the TSCA and RCRA regarding PFOA.
“This is not about the safety of our products,” said DuPont General Counsel Stacey J. Mobley. “It is about administrative reporting. Furthermore, we believe that a decision against DuPont in this matter would redefine TSCA and RCRA reporting requirements and would not prevail under the scrutiny of the courts.”
PFOA is used in the manufacturing process for fluoropolymers, including some Teflon products, at DuPont’s Washington Works facility in Washington, West Virginia.
In 1981, DuPont observed PFOA in blood samples taken from pregnant workers at the Washington Works facility and at least one woman had transferred the chemical to her fetus, the EPA said in a statement. DuPont detected the chemical in public water supplies as early as the mid-1980s in West Virginia and Ohio communities in the vicinity of the Washington Works facility. By 1991 DuPont had information that the chemical was in water supplies at a greater level than the company’s exposure guidlelines indicated would be without any effect to members of the community. In 1997, DuPont failed to provide EPA with all toxicological information the company had regarding PFOA, despite an EPA request for such information under the terms of an EPA-issued RCRA permit. An attorney working on a class action suit on behalf of citizens in Ohio and West Virginia brought this information to the EPA in 2001.
DuPont said: “The evidence from over 50 years of experience and extensive scientific studies supports our conclusion that PFOA does not harm human health or the environment,” Mobley said.
DuPont asserts that there is no legal basis for the EPA’s allegations. The company contends that it has fully complied with statutory reporting requirements and disputes any association between PFOA and harmful effects on human health or the environment.
But a new study coming out in Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) finds the Teflon chemical PFOA in people’s blood on four continents, the EWG wrote in its letter to Tom Skinner, Acting Administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
“If DuPont had complied with the TSCA 8(e) reporting requirement over twenty years ago, we believe it is reasonable to assume that EPA would have taken regulatory action decades ago to prevent or reduce the release of PFOA into the environment, preventing or reducing what is, by this point, human contamination on a planetary scale,” wrote Dr. Timothy J. Kropp, EWG Senior Scientist.
EWG renewed its request for the EPA to levy a fine that takes into account the decades of profits Dupont accrued while it allegedly withheld studies from the Agency, Kropp wrote.
“Even the maximum fine of $313 million would be less than two years’ worth of net DuPont profits from Teflon sales,” Kropp said.
(via U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
3 responses so far ↓
Ronald Eheman // Sep 2, 2004 at 1:09 am
C8, fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Gulf War Syndrome. Mystry illnesses.
Is there a common thread? I believe there is. lets look at some of the things this site is watching.
Bacol, Fen Phen, Prozac, Paxil, PFOA, - what do they have in common?
Fluoride
Want to know about the greatest chemical cover-up ever? read ” The Fluoride Deception”
I found out my health problems and started the only support group on the web
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/FluoridePoisoning/
Here is my first post
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/FluoridePoisoning/message/3
Date: Thu Nov 21, 2002 7:59 am
Subject: Ron’s Story -Short Version
ADVERTISEMENT
I’m a:
WomanMan
Seeking a:
ManWoman
Age:
to
City or Zip:
My name is Ron
Everything you have ever known or heard about Fluoride is false.
Fluoridated water is the biggest scam ever pulled on the WORLD and is
killing and sickining people everywhere..
I have been sick since 97 My symptoms did not start all at once but
became progressivly worse until the present.
Symptoms:
blurry vision - on and off not continously. got new glasses just
before I went for last MRI reading. Also looked for ICP by looking at
optic disc.
leg pains - hip, shoulder joints - I can’t cross my legs - feels like
my joints are coming apart
muscle cramps and charley horses in calfs and arch of feet
mental confusion -short term memory - seems I really have to work at
remembering daily stuff
Headaches ( frontal)_ worse as day goes on
dizziness, like an airpane ride , disconnected , sometimes feels like
I am 3 feet off the ground or I am sitting sideways up on the wall -
no spinning vertigo
Brain fog - I suspect this is what alhzimers must feel like
tinnitus,-
otolaringologist says I have low frequency hearing loss
irritability - lashing out at family for no apparent reason
lack of concentration
can’t sleep - up at 3-4 am and can’t get back to sleep
Need to lie down in the afternoon - exhausted - feels like I am in a
comotose state - at times I can hear what is happening around me but
I can’t respond
Getting fine tremmors in legs & eyelid
Dysphagia - throat feels swollen , hard to swallow at times - THROAT
GOES OPEN AND CLOSED -worse after exercise
cold hands & feet at times - cold all over at times
profuse sweating - sometimes I sweat like a pig for 15 min. after a
shower
No appitite - constant nausea - lots of bread & milk
muscle weakness & myalgic pain moving all the time
Lower back pain and neck pain comes and goes I don’t think itis
linked to exercise
hands and heels really hurt at times
electric like shocks in left leg ( thigh, sometimes in feet and toes)
worst ones happen while I am
lying on couch watching TV - doubled over in pain
Fatigue is increadible - last two hours and consider it a good day!
Gums bleed , had periodontal disease
bone loss in jaw,- according to periodontist and dentist
teeth feel loose, USED TO BE ABLE TO WIGGLE THEM WITH MY TONGUE ,
drooling at times
Soft stools all the time -almost diarrhea
Getting pins and needles on chest and back after a hot shower and hot
days and exercise - started after surgery i think
Itching on arms and waist especially after a hot shower but other
times too
Seems like all this happens after I eat!!! things get worse and also
after exercise
chest pain in ribs on right side, then on left side
Heels really hurt as do my “heels ” of my hands
longitudal ridges on finger/toe nails
History ( very brief- this is just the tip of the iceburg)
self diagnosed Chiari Malformation - my brains are swelling into my
spinal column - had decompression surgery in 2000 - symptoms
continued and worsened
self diagnosed Heavy metal poisoning - challenge test showed lead
mercury etc. - this was according to a holistic doctor and allopathic
doctors do not recognize these results. Chelated with DMSA - numbers
came down- still sick - then 10 weeks of EDTA IV thearpy - still sick.
Rhum. Doc diagnosis of Fibromyalgia - 6/02
self diagnosed Fluoride Poisoning - may 2002- one night I got sick
after dinner - and a couple of days later I thought back about what I
did different that nite - I drank three glasses of city water at that
meal instead of milk. Fluoride calcium seeks and makes it less toxic.
I did my own blind tests - I can pick out F water EVERY time - my
daughter can tell by my eyes if I have had 3 glasses of water!
I have confronted docs with this - Some look at me like I’m from
outer space, some belittle me, others just laugh.
My neurologist looked at me wide eyed and ordered serum and urine
fluoride tests. He never called me back. I went and got copies 3
weeks later and both were ELEVATED - my blood levels are 10x normal -
he has NOT dx me or schedualed another appmt.
Romhatoligist dx me with fibromyalgia and then I told her about
Fluoride - she doesn’t want to see me again!
I found Dr. Myra Preston PHD - of SIBER IMAGING who has a patented
method of dx CFIDS through QEEG. I did before and after tests
dirnking my city water and I think I now have proof that F causes
brain damage in humans and is one of the causes of these “mysterious
syndromes” CFS,FM,GWS, MCS etc.
I scanned the report and will send it to you in another private
email if you wish, as it is 8 pages long.
Please give feed back if you can. I am willing to take this document
to court and start the fight against Fluorodation. I think this could
be the straw that breaks the camels back.
TEST RESULTS FROM DR PRESTON
Mine are unusual as I did two tests because my fluoronated city water
was making me sick. First test after staying away from as much F as
possible for 2+ weeks - second test after drinking my city water for
24 hours.
Highlights:
tested positive for all four variables to be classified as CFIDS
patient on both tests
Impression: RGE’s QEEG prior to drinking water was abnormal. The
abnormalities are primarly in the ratios to total brain activation.
the prominence of slow wave activity is recorded in the delta and
theta frequencies. The lack of beta activity alsorepresents an
abnormal finding.
Following the exposure to water, RGE’s delta activity increased,
theta activity decreased… Performance on these tests declined
sharply from the pre-to post water drinking… total brain function
declined in the post-water drinking QEEG.
Conclusions: Extremely abnormal QEEG due to the diffuse delta and
theta activity and the lack of brain activation in the beta range in
the frontal and temporal regions. This pattern correlates with the
patients report of severe cognitive loss. Abnormalities such as these
correlate with the limbic system and immune dysfunction, the fatigue,
the cognitive problems. It is important to note that the pre-water
evaluationwas quite abnormal, confirming the chronicity of the
patients illiness. The post-water drinking decline correlates with
the patients history of fluoride poisoning. Exposure to this toxin
exacerbated the neurophysiological disruption. …
… RGE clearly exhibits diffuse brain dysfunction, which typically
results from a widespread condition such as a metabolic disease
including heavy metal poisoning. This indicates a neurotoxic
poisoning. Fluoride is a neurotoxin that acts on postsynaptic
receptors. This neurotoxic condition correlates with the disrupted
brain physiology and the secondary development od Chronic Fatigue
Immune Dysfinction and Fibromyalgia Syndrome.
rge@uplogon.com
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Too bad there isn’t a lawyer willing to come out from under his desk and take on this problem. I have been declined by all of them including Massery Viteo Brockovitch, Geofery Feiger and many more.
I have about 20 other people who know that fluoride is poisoning them also at my site.
Any attorneys willing to come over to my group and talk?
Ronald Eheman
rge@uplogon.com
yingfu // Jul 5, 2005 at 5:44 pm
Is teflon safe to be used in cookware as a covering layer?
Wyeth Swittenburg // Jul 21, 2005 at 10:03 am
Check this out.
Teflon accusation doesn’t stick
Michael Fumento
July 21, 2005
Teflon has long been a godsend in the kitchen. It’s easier to cook with, since foods don’t stick. It’s easier to wash – and easier on the environment – since it requires less detergent and no dishwasher energy. And it’s easier on the heart and the waistline, since it eliminates the need for cooking in lots of oil, butter or margarine.
Yet Teflon has recently gone from the frying pan into the fire, thanks to some money-hungry lawyers. They’ve cooked up a scary story, adding a dollop of hyperbole for good measure. Unfortunately, they left out common sense and science.
For the rest go to - http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Fumento20050721.shtml
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