Bloomberg News, Jack Kaskey
Published January 25, 2006
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked eight companies including DuPont Co. and 3M Co. to eliminate a chemical used to make Teflon non-stick coatings from emissions and products because of health concerns.
The companies should cut releases of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, by 95 percent by 2010 and eliminate emissions by 2015, Susan Hazen, an acting assistant administrator at EPA, said today on a conference call from Washington. The same reductions are being sought for PFOA in finished products.
DuPont will comply by capturing plant emissions and switching some chemicals to reduce PFOA in products, said David Boothe, global business manager for fluoroproducts. There are no acceptable replacements in many processes, he said. The EPA is studying whether PFOA harms people and why low levels of the chemical are found in the blood of most Americans.
``The science on PFOA is still coming in, but the concern is there,'' Hazen said on the call. Eliminating the chemical under EPA's voluntary program ``is the right thing to do for our health and environment,'' she said.
PFOA, which causes cancer in lab animals, affects $1 billion of DuPont's $26.6 billion in annual sales, DuPont said in a Nov. 3 regulatory filing.
Shares of DuPont, based in Wilmington, Delaware, fell 5 cents to $39.21 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have dropped 16 percent in the past year. 3M, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, declined $1.20, or 1.6 percent, to $73. The company makes more than 50,000 products.
Other Companies
Other companies asked to join the EPA program by March 1 are Clariant AG and Ciba Specialty Chemicals AG of Switzerland; Total SA's Arkema of France; Japan's Asahi Glass Co. and Daikin Industries Ltd.; and Solvay Solexis, Hazen said.
DuPont started making PFOA after its supplier, 3M, phased out production in 2000. 3M still uses PFOA to make certain polymers at a site in Germany, spokesman Bill Nelson said.
DuPont has reduced global PFOA emissions by 94 percent since 2000, the base-line year for the EPA program, the company said in a statement. Emissions should fall 98 percent by 2007, DuPont said.
PFOA is used to make fluoropolymers such as Teflon coatings, rain gear and wiring insulation, and fluorotelomers, such as firefighting foams and grease repellants added to popcorn bags, food wrappers, clothing, leather, upholstery and carpets. Flurotelomers may break down into PFOA, EPA said.
No Promise
DuPont hasn't promised to eliminate PFOA from its emissions and products, Vice President Susan Stalnecker said.
``We have agreed to work toward that goal,'' Stalnecker said.
The EPA will add PFOA and its precursors to the Toxic Release Inventory, which will require companies to report their emissions of the chemical to the Washington-based agency so the public can monitor emissions reductions, Charles Auer, director of pollution prevention and toxics, said on the call.
Consumers should not be concerned about continuing to use PFOA-related products as the chemical is phased out, Hazen said.
DuPont, the world's largest producer of fluoropolymers, has said PFOA does not cause cancer in people and is not a health risk, even to workers exposed to higher levels of the chemical. PFOA is not present in finished Teflon products, DuPont said.
DuPont in December agreed to pay $16.5 million for failing to disclose data to regulators about PFOA. The company said in March it will stop using PFOA in Teflon coatings and other paint-like polymers by the end of 2006. It says PFOA emissions at U.S. plants have been cut by 98 percent since 2000.
Likely Human Carcinogen
An EPA scientific advisory board in June said PFOA is a likely human carcinogen, based on animal studies.
The Department of Justice last year opened a grand jury investigation into DuPont's disclosure of PFOA health data.
DuPont is paying $107.6 million to settle claims that PFOA, also known as C8, from its plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, polluted the drinking water of 60,000 people. Should a study find PFOA caused health problems, the company would pay an additional $235 million for medical monitoring and might be liable for personal-injury claims.
The company also faces class-action suits in Florida and a dozen other states from consumers who purchased cookware with Teflon coating. The charges are without merit, DuPont said.
