DuPont Safety in the News

DuPont Spent $1.2M Lobbying in 2007Chemicals maker DuPont Co. spent $1.2 million in the first half of 2007 to lobby the federal government, according to a disclosure form. The company lobbied on food biotechnology, international chemicals regulation, patent reform legislation, vegetation management, climate change and numerous other issues, according to the form posted online Aug. 27 by the Senate's public records office. The Wilmington, Del.-based company lobbied Congress, Agriculture, Defense and State departments, U.S. Trade Representative's office and several more agencies. Associated Press on Forbes.com 9/4/07

DuPont reported an estimated 357,000 cases of cancer for every million people fromthe maximum emissions from its Rubbertown plan in Louisville. "That's 357,000 times higher than the main goal of STAR, which is 1 case in 1 million for individual chemicals at a plant." The Courier-Journal

Time for a Burden Shift See an interview with Sierra Club's Executive Director, Carl Pope, about how listing PFOA under Proposition 65 in California could shift the burden of proof to corporations. Under this right-to-know act, corporations would have to prove PFOA is not harming our health.

PFOA and Heart Disease? Latest PFOA Health News from DuPont "DuPont conducted a two-phase employee health study on PFOA at its Washington Works site. Results from the first phase of this study for more than 1,000 workers indicate no association between exposure to PFOA and most of the health parameters that were measured. The only potentially relevant association is a modest increase in some, but not all, lipid fractions, e.g. cholesterol, in some of the highest exposed workers.

"The second phase was a mortality study that involves the examination of all causes of death in more than 6,000 employees who worked at the Washington Works site during its more than fifty years of operation. Based on the observation of a modest increase in some lipid fractions in the study’s first phase, the second phase included a more detailed analysis of heart disease. No overall increase in deaths related to heart disease was found. After additional analyses of the data using different models, one analysis showed a slight increase in heart disease with increased exposure. This observation could be the result of random occurrence or it could mean a small increase in workers more heavily exposed. DuPont intends to pursue additional analyses to fully understand this statistical observation." - From DuPont's 10Q (pp. 34 - 35, emphasis added)

Groundwater Health Risk Limits for Perfluorochemicals "Legislation passed in the 2007 regular session (Minnesota Session Laws 2007, Chapter 37) directs the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to adopt Health Risk Limit (HRL) values for two perflurorchemicals, PFOS and PFOA...The values for the new Health Risk Limits are 0.3 ug/L for PFOS and 0.5 ug/L for PFOA."

DuPont Verdict Handed Down (Associated Press, 6/8/07) The Jones County jury found that DuPont "negligently released dioxins and arsenic from the DeLisle, Mississippi facility" but did not link the release to the death of an eight-year-old girl who lived near the plant and died of liver cancer.

New study on human exposure to PFOA (pdf) – Everyone in the United States has PFOA in their blood, according to the latest study to be published in Environmental Science and Technology. The mean concentration for all people over the age of 12 is 5.2 parts per billion (ppb, also expressed as ng/ml).

Produce may be linked to chemical in residents near DuPont plant (AP, 2/28/07)
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Consuming high amounts of locally grown produce was among the factors that caused higher levels of a chemical used to make Teflon in the blood of residents living in a southeastern Ohio water district, a researcher said Wednesday.

Chemical found in NJ wells (Courier-Post, 2/18/07) "PFOA" is not exactly a household word at this point. But the synthetic chemical, used in the manufacture of a number of household products, including nonstick cookware, wall-to-wall carpeting and all-weather clothing, seems destined to become better known in the weeks and months to come...

DEP sets PFOA limit (Today's Sunbeam, 2/18/07) ... In one of the most recent discussions about the chemical, the United Steelworkers Union (USW) announced that testing they had conducted revealed a small level of the chemical in the water supply at the Paul W. Carleton School. The testing was done by scientists hired by USW....

Water safety near DuPont discussed (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2/15/07) A state official tried to ease local residents' concerns about a controversial chemical found in water around DuPont's Spruance plant in Chesterfield County.

Chemical found in water supplies (Newark Star-Ledger , 1/14/07) Low levels of a likely carcinogenic chemical used to make nonstick cookware and all-weather clothing have been found in drinking water systems across New Jersey, according to tests conducted by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

PFOA is forever (Pascagoula Mississippi Press, 2/ 8/ 2007)DuPont announced this week that it is developing new products with reduced PFOA and will eliminate using the chemical by 2015. PFOA became the center of a controversy here when DuPont announced plans to dump the chemical into Pascagoula's wastewater system.

DuPont pledges end of PFOA (Pascagoula Mississippi Press, 2/7/07) DuPont officials said the development of new products with reduced PFOA content will allow the company to eliminate the controversial chemical use by 2015.... "If it was so safe, why are they trying to phase it out?" Miller said. "DuPont can't have it both ways. Obviously, this product is a problem."

Two chemical leaks from different plants occur within 10 days of each other, residents on alarm (1/25/07) A cloud of the chemical oleum plumed over a DuPont plant in La Porte, TX on Thursday, Jan. 25. Residents and near-by schools were told to shelter-in-place and a freeway was shutdown. As the plume drifted toward Pasadena and the shelter-in-place was lifted for La Porte, a new one was issued for Pasadena residents. Just ten days before, an evacuation was ordered when the DuPont DeLisle, Miss. plant leaked titanium tetrachloride, "a toxic chemical that can be fatal if inhaled." Read the news stories...

Chemical in Water a Concern (Today's Sunbeam, 1/13/07) A union group along with several environmental associations held a town meeting on Thursday to discuss recent tests they say showed drinking water at a local school tested positive for a chemical classified by the EPA as a possible carcinogen.

Testing planned over chemical at Penns Grove school (Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/12/07)
An official with the Penns Grove-Carneys Point schools said yesterday that the district would arrange water testing after a labor union disclosed that a water sample taken at one school contained a chemical that might be a carcinogen. ... groups said perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), used to make Teflon cookware and ...

Chemical in school water draws alarm (Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/11/07)
Drinking water at a South Jersey elementary school has been found to be tainted with a chemical that the Environmental Protection Agency has labeled a likely carcinogen, a union and environmental groups announced yesterday. ... union, the tests revealed high levels of PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) in some ...

North Carolina sets interim standard for PFOA in groundwater (Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, 1/18/06) North Carolina 's Department of Water Quality (DWQ) Dec. 14 introduced an interim standard of 2 parts per billion (ppb) for perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA) in groundwater.

Slick compound targeted as possible carcinogen That stuff in your saucepan may be killing you, and it's not your mother's cooking. That was the claim made by experts in a hearing last week in Sacramento. State experts in a little-known group called the Carcinogen Identification Committee met to consider a chemical known as PFOA, which is most commonly used in non-stick and stain-resistant surfaces, including DuPont's Teflon.... DuPont's ample representation at the meeting seemed to signal a fear of significant losses if PFOA were to be labeled as hazardous to humans in California. (Capitol Weekly, 11/23/06)

Sayreville water safety defended A coalition of union and environmental groups says the borough continues to mislead the public about the safety of its drinking water — a claim Sayreville officials vehemently deny. (Home News Tribune Online, 11/17/06)

PFOA found at plant DuPont cites 'low levels' of chemical in Chesterfield; EPA reports similar results (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/4/06)

Child death trial against DuPont pushed back to May (Associated Press, 8/21/06) A Mississippi couple's lawsuit claiming that dioxins from DuPont's plant on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are responsible for the death of their daughter has been pushed back to May.

C8 levels rise in Fayetteville plant workers. While the average person might have 5 parts per billion of C8 in his blood, the highest reading in 2005 showed a Fayetteville DuPont worker with 4,540 ppb, and the average of 64 samples was 504 ppb. (Fayetteville Observer, 8/11/06)

The Weinberg Proposal : A scientific consulting firm offered to help DuPont with its PFOA problem and help "shape the debate at all levels." (Environmental Science & Technology, February 22, 2006)