November 17,2004 — The Environmental Working Group today provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with documents showing that the Teflon maker DuPont failed to report new evidence that neighbors of the Parkersburg, WV Teflon plant have Teflon chemicals in their blood at rates many times higher than the American public. The EPA is currently embroiled in litigation against DuPont for hiding similar health and tap water pollution studies from the Agency for 20 years.
"Once again, Teflon maker DuPont has ignored its most basic legal responsibilities to the American public," said Richard Wiles, senior vice president at EWG. "DuPont is already defending itself in court against EPA charges that it suppressed critical safety information from the communities surrounding its plants. What will it take for DuPont to tell the public everything it knows about the extraordinary dangers of Teflon chemicals?"
The new study, conducted by DuPont consulting firm Exygen, shows that people living near the Teflon plant have amounts of the Teflon chemical known as C8 or PFOA in their blood that are several times the amounts currently found in the American public. Over 95% of the American public has the Teflon chemical in their blood. Decades' worth of peer-reviewed research shows that Teflon chemicals cause cancer, birth defects and developmental problems in laboratory animals. They never break down and are found in consumer products such as Teflon and other coated cookware, clothing, household cleaners, carpets and other textiles, fast food packaging and more. Teflon is also a common coating in connectors and cabling.
In addition to suing DuPont for hiding a critical health study and data showing the company had polluted the drinking water of thousands of neighbors of its Teflon plant in West Virginia, the EPA is in the middle of an investigation to find out how the Teflon chemical has gotten into nearly every American's blood. This second investigation could lead to a limit in use or a ban of this Teflon chemical.
In the lawsuit, EPA officials took EWG's advice in a petition to prosecute DuPont for breaking pollution laws by hiding damaging data for over 20 years. The first hearing in that lawsuit takes place on December 16 in Washington, DC. The EPA could levy a record fine of $313 million against DuPont.
