Houston, TX, November 18--The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it hasn't ruled out the possibility of additional charges against DuPont Co. for failing to report possible health and environmental risks related to a toxic chemical used to make Teflon.
A Washington, D.C., advocacy group petitioned the agency to investigate whether DuPont should have acted after a company study last summer showed that people living near its West Virginia Teflon plant had levels of a chemical known as PFOA in their blood at levels 12 times higher than those measured among the general population.
"The agency continues to receive and review information and we have not foreclosed any possibilities, including that of additional claims," the EPA said in response to the petition filed by the Environmental Working Group.
The controversy over PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, has emerged as one of the most pressing environmental problems facing DuPont, with the company locked in a legal battle with the EPA over its failure to disclose health risks from studies dating back to the 1980s. Teflon is used in everything from cookware to clothing.
Stacey Mobley, senior vice president and general counsel of DuPont, said the company is cooperating fully with the EPA and providing all appropriate information to the agency about PFOA, "whether required by a statute or not."
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.
In September, DuPont agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged it contaminated water supplies with PFOA. But the company has declined to settle the complaint by the EPA, which has threatened to impose millions of dollars in penalties.
Between 1981 and 2001, the EPA says DuPont found PFOA in water supplies near its West Virginia plant that exceeded its own exposure guidelines. The EPA also says the company found PFOA in pregnant employees, at least one of whom had transferred the chemical to her fetus.
A study involving 12 people living near the company's Washington Works facility in Parkersburg, West Virginia, conducted last July through DuPont shows elevated levels of PFOA. All of those in the study had consumed tap water contaminated with the Teflon chemical from DuPont's Washington Works operations and only one had worked there.
