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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wed Jan 25, 2006 4:05 PM
By Timothy Gardner
US asks co's to slash output of Teflon compound
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. environmental regulators asked eight companies on Wednesday to voluntarily commit to reduce releases of a potentially hazardous compound used to make non-stick cookware by 95 percent by 2010.
Under what it calls a global stewardship program, the Environmental Protection Agency is asking producers of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, to slash emissions and levels of the compound in products by 95 percent, using 2000 as the basis year. The compound is used to make a wide range of non-stick and stain-resistant surfaces and products such as Teflon.
It also encourages the companies that make PFOA, such as DuPont Co. and 3M Co., to work toward the elimination of all releases of PFOA by 2015.
PFOA has been the subject of a good deal of controversy. Last month, DuPont agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle with the EPA over reporting data about the compound.
EPA said it is continuing to study PFOA's impact on human health to see if it needs to take more action on the compound.
"The science on PFOA is still coming in, but the concern is there so acting now to minimize future releases of PFOA is the right thing to do four our environment and health," Susan Hazen, EPA's acting assistant administrator in the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, told reporters on a conference call.
ERRING ON SIDE OF CAUTION
The agreement was praised by an environmental group. "This is one of those days that we think the EPA is working at its best," Ken Cook, president of Washington-based environmental lobby the Environmental Working Group, told reporters on a conference call. "They are asking companies to err on the side of caution."
PFOA can remain in the human body for up to four years, according to the EPA, and small amounts of the chemical are found in a large portion of the general public.
DuPont said its studies and those of independent researchers show that cookware and other consumer products made with DuPont materials are safe. In addition, it said, PFOA to date has had no known health effects on humans.
However, tests by 3M Co., the original manufacturer of PFOA, have shown that high levels of exposure to the chemical may cause liver damage and reproductive problems in rats.
Although its case with the EPA is settled, DuPont still faces class-action lawsuits, filed last July, charging that the chemical producer hid the potential health hazards of PFOA.
The plaintiffs are calling for DuPont to pay damages to class members, create a fund for medical monitoring of consumers who purchased products containing PFOA, and put warning labels on cookware.
EPA sent letters to the eight companies and asks for their commitment by March 1 and to submit their 2000 baseline for emissions and product content by October 31.
DuPont spokesman Cliff Webb said the company agreed to take part in the program and that it has already reduced global emissions of the compound by 94 percent.
Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin, P.L. (www.kpkb.com) engages principally in the practice of commercial litigation and dispute resolution, bankruptcy and creditors rights issues, intellectual property litigation and transactions, and corporate and real estate transactions. The firm’s headquarters are located at The Miami Center, Seventeenth Floor, 201 S. Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33131. The phone number is (305) 379-9000.
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