Fourteen South Floridians have filed a suit against Dupont, claiming the chemical company failed to warn them about potential dangers of a chemical used in making its nonstick Teflon-coated pots and pans.

Cookware containing Teflon can release harmful substances, including a chemical that has been determined to ''likely'' cause cancer in humans, the suit alleges.

Dupont, based in Wilmington , Del. , issued a statement in response to the suit: ''Consumers using products under the Teflon brand are safe.'' Dupont said it will vigorously defend the charges.

SEEKING BILLIONS

The 24-page suit, filed Friday in Miami federal court, seeks at least $5 billion for: ongoing medical monitoring of consumers who purchased the nonstick cookware; scientific research on the potential health effects of using the products; and the replacement of cookware.

The claims could climb as high as $40 billion, depending on the number of people who have bought Teflon and other nonstick cookware, said Roy Oppenheim, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

''The crux of the whole lawsuit is Dupont's failure to adequately label these products,'' said lawyer Ellen Pilelsky, also a name partner in Weston's Oppenheim Pilelsky.

Dupont should attach warning labels that alert consumers to the ''toxic gases'' that Teflon emits when heated, she added.

The lawyers also allege that Dupont has known about the potential dangers for 20 years but has failed to alert the public. Rather than prove that consumers were hurt, Oppenheim said he only has to show in court that consumers were misled by the company by it withholding crucial information. The suit alleges Dupont violated Florida 's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Concerns about Teflon center on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a ''processing aid'' used in the making of fluoropolymer -- which gives the Teflon pots and pans their nonstick qualities, according to Clifton Webb, a Dupont spokesman.

While PFOA is used to make the cookware coating, Webb said the chemical is destroyed in the manufacturing process.

An Environmental Protection Agency scientific review board last month in a draft report deemed PFOA a ''likely'' carcinogen in humans.

DUPONT'S POSITION

Dupont refuted the board's finding in a June 28 statement.

``Dupont believes that the weight of evidence suggests that PFOA exposure does not cause cancer in humans, and does not pose a health risk to the general public.''

Dupont disclosed in May that the Justice Department's environmental crimes division had served a grand jury subpoena calling on the company to turn over documents related to PFOA.

A press release issued by Oppenheim Pilelsky and its co-counsel, Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin of Miami , said the Justice Department is investigating Dupont in connection with its concealment of a study in 1981 of its employees and the effects of PFOA.