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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Harmful
Teflon Chemical To Be Eliminated by 2015
By Juliet
Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 26, 2006; Page A01
Eight U.S. companies,
including giant DuPont Co., agreed yesterday to virtually eliminate
a harmful chemical used to make Teflon from all consumer products
coated with the ubiquitous nonstick material.
Although the chemical
would still be used to manufacture Teflon and similar products,
processes will be developed to ensure that perfluorooctanoic acid
(PFOA) would not be released into the environment from finished
products or manufacturing plants.
PFOA -- a key processing agent in making nonstick and stain-resistant
materials -- has been linked to cancer and birth defects in animals
and is in the blood of 95 percent of Americans, including pregnant
women. It has also been found in the blood of marine organisms
and Arctic polar bears.
The voluntary pact,
which was crafted by the Environmental Protection Agency, will
force companies to reduce manufacturing emissions of PFOA by 95
percent by no later than 2010. They will also have to reduce trace
amounts of the compound in consumer products by 95 percent during
the same period and virtually eliminate them by 2015.
The agreement will
dramatically reduce the extent to which PFOA shows up in a wide
variety of everyday products, including pizza boxes, nonstick
pans and microwave-popcorn bags.
While not as sweeping
as the federal ban on DDT in 1972, yesterday's agreement is expected
to have profound implications for public health and the environment.
An independent federal scientific advisory board is expected to
recommend soon whether the government should classify the chemical
as a "likely" or "probable" carcinogen in
humans, which could trigger a new set of federal regulations.
"The science is
still coming in on PFOA, but the concern is there," said
Susan B. Hazen, acting assistant administrator of EPA's Office
of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. "This is
the right thing to do for our health and our environment."
The move, which came
just a month after DuPont reached a $16.5 million settlement with
EPA over the company's failure to report possible health risks
associated with PFOA, drew applause from environmental groups
that have frequently criticized both the administration and DuPont.
"This is one of
those days when the Environmental Protection Agency is at its
best. With its announcement today, the EPA is challenging an entire
industry to err on the side of precaution and public safety, and
invent new ways of doing business," said Ken Cook, president
of the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization.
"As harshly as we have singled out DuPont for criticism for
its past handling of PFOA pollution, today we want to single out
and commend the company and acknowledge its leadership going forward."
DuPont officials said
they were confident they could alter manufacturing methods over
the coming decade to contain PFOA exposure from products that
generated $1 billion in sales for the company in 2004.
"It's important
to do this because this is a persistent material in the environment,
and it's at low levels in people's blood," said David Boothe,
DuPont's global business director. To remove PFOA, he said, the
company will subject some of its products to extra heat and will
sometimes add a step in the manufacturing process. "We're
going to push it really hard and take it as far as we can."
Scientific studies
have not established a link between using products containing
trace amounts of PFOA, such as microwave-popcorn bags or nonstick
pans, and elevated cancer levels. Hazen said yesterday's announcement
should "not indicate any concern . . . for consumers using
household products" with such coatings.
Several other companies
agreed yesterday to reduce public exposure to the chemical, including
3M Co., Ciba and Clariant Corp. But DuPont, which settled a class-action
suit last year accusing it of contaminating drinking water in
Ohio and West Virginia communities near its plant in Parkersburg,
W.Va., has attracted the most public scrutiny over its PFOA use.
William Bailey III,
who was born in 1981 with multiple birth defects while his mother,
Sue, was working with the chemical at the Parkersburg plant, said
he will "be watching" to see if the chemical giant complies
with the new agreement.
"They're trying
to save face," said Bailey, who is suing DuPont over his
birth defects.
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.
Oppenheim Pilelsky, PA (www.oppenheimlaw.com) is a real estate and litigation boutique law firm focused on high profile cases often involving medical malpractice, serious bodily injury, and unfair and deceptive trade practices. Oppenheim Pilelsky, PA is located at 2500 Weston Road Suite 404, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33331 (954) 384-6114.
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