[DuPont Reaches $300M Settlement With Group Over Water Supply - Wall Street Journal 10sep04]
The Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday that DuPont Co. failed to disclose data concerning a potentially hazardous chemical used to manufacture Teflon and that the agency will impose millions of dollars in penalties.
Between 1981 and 2001, DuPont found perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, in water supplies near its West Virginia plant at levels that exceeded its own exposure guidelines, the EPA said. The EPA also said DuPont found PFOA in pregnant employees, at least one of whom had transferred the chemical to her fetus.
PFOA isn't yet known to be harmful to humans or the environment, but studies indicate it may present a significant risk. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, companies are required to disclose information about such substances. But critics, saying manufacturers such as DuPont are reluctant to police themselves, are calling for an overhaul of chemical testing and regulation in the U.S.
"This is a great example of why voluntary programs don't work," said Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group based in Washington.
DuPont said it had complied with the reporting requirements and that PFOA is harmful to neither human health nor the environment. "We will take action to respond to the agency's complaint and will vigorously defend our position," said DuPont General Counsel Stacey J. Mobley.
DuPont, Wilmington, Del., could be fined as much as $25,000 a day for violations occurring before Jan. 30, 1997 and as much as $27,500 a day for violations occurring thereafter for each day it failed to report the information. But Tom Skinner, head of the EPA's enforcement office, said he doubted the penalties would be that high.
The EPA began looking into PFOA as early as 1997 but redoubled its efforts last year to better understand the chemical. Since then, the agency has been working with DuPont and 3M Co. among other companies to complete a revised risk assessment, which is expected this fall.
According to the EPA, DuPont observed PFOA in blood samples taken from pregnant workers at its Washington Works plant in 1981. In at least one woman, the chemical had transferred to the fetus.
DuPont detected the chemical in public water supplies as early as the mid-1980s in West Virginia and Ohio communities in the vicinity of the Washington Works facility, the EPA said. By 1991, the company had information that the chemical was in water supplies at levels greater than its own exposure guidelines.
The EPA also said DuPont failed to provide data to federal regulators under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1997, when it was requested by the agency.
PFOA is used to make fluoropolymers, which are used in array of products, chief among them nonstick-cookware coatings.
The EPA became particularly concerned about the chemical after blood samples from three population groups selected at random showed low-level residues lingering in their blood for as long as four years. A second study involving larger doses of the chemical, fed to rats, showed delays in sexual maturation and an accelerated death.
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