3M fined for chemical used in Decatur

Decatur Daily, Eric Fleischauer
Published April 27, 2006

3M Co. agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty to the Environmental Protection Agency for alleged violations of a law restricting the use of toxic chemicals, some of which it produced in Decatur until 2000. The alleged violations are in connection with 3M's past use of various chemicals, including chemicals used to make Teflon and previously used in Scotchgard. 3M made synthetic perfluorochemicals at its Decatur plant until 2000, when it substituted other chemicals. Some scientists and health officials believe PFCs can cause cancer. 3M tests published in a scientific journal in 2002 detected perfluorooctanoic acid - part of the PFC family and usually referred to as PFOA - in the Tennessee River as far away as the Wheeler and Wilson dams. Daikin America's Decatur plant has also used the chemical in its manufacturing process, according to the Washington-based Environmental Working Group. The EPA did not say when or where the violations occurred, but documents it filed accused 3M of being late to inform the agency of evidence that PFCs were hazardous. Neither the EPA nor local 3M officials immediately responded to calls Friday evening. 3M said in a statement its agreement to pay the fine was not an admission of liability. 3M spokeswoman Jackie Berry said in a statement that the company voluntarily disclosed all information to the EPA after starting an internal audit of its toxic substances in the late 1990s. In 2004, several Decatur residents filed suit against 3M. Their lawyers said at the time that environmental tests revealed high levels of PFCs in their clients' soil. All lived near the 3M plant on State Docks Road in Northwest Decatur. Phasing chemical out 3M began phasing out the Teflon-related chemical PFOA and a related Scotchgard chemical called perfluorooctane sulfonate, also in the PFC family, in 2000, after the company found the substances in the blood of workers. 3M officials have said the chemicals are not harmful to humans. In 1979, according to a document filed with the EPA, 3M discovered PFCs in four fish caught in the Tennessee River. In a 1997 study, 3M scientists endeavored to compare PFC levels of its employees with those of the general population by examining blood from blood banks. They discovered the chemical in blood banks, even in blood collected far from any PFC manufacturer. In 1999, 3M scientists conducted tests that documented the accumulation of PFCs on an apple in Kroger, and in water samples taken from Riverwalk Marina on Wheeler Lake and from Flint Creek. They also discovered the chemical - which does not occur naturally - in regions that had no PFC plants. When 3M quit making PFCs, its primary customer, DuPont, began making the chemical itself for use in its Teflon products.