Union warns on PFOA use

22 August 2005 00:01  [Source: ICB]

THE PRESSURE continues to build on DuPont as the US United Steel Workers Union (USW) has informed carpet cleaning retailers, wholesalers and clothing companies that they have ‘a legal duty’ to warn customers about the potential harmful effects of products that may contain perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

PFOA is an ingredient used in the manufacture of Teflon but is also said to be formed when fluorotelomers, a group of water and stain resistant chemicals, break down. Fluorotelomers are applied to carpets, clothing and certain containers used for fast food.

The letters were sent to a number of companies including MacDonalds, Pizza Hut, Levi Strauss, and Wal-Mart.

The union has also written to hundreds of paper companies in the US expressing concern about another DuPont product Zonyl, used in the production of paper which is utilised by the food industry.

It is claimed that this material may also break down into PFOA. According to public interest body Environmental Working Group (EWG) Zonyl could be a route for PFOA reaching the bloodstream of most Americans.

‘We sincerely hope that our efforts will encourage companies selling or distributing potentially carcinogenic products to provide warnings and thereby protect the public’, said a USW spokesman. ‘DuPont has a special responsibility to its employees who produce PFOA and fluorotelomers and who may have the highest exposure to possible carcinogens’, added the spokesman.

CONCERN OVER PFOA GROWS

The USW letter is part of a growing chorus calling on DuPont to provide clarity over the safety of products containing PFOA. DuPont has stressed that products made using the compound, including Teflon, are safe. But reports that have suggested that PFOA is a possible carcinogen, are making it harder for DuPont’s message to be heard.

Along with this letter, the USW has also stated that researchers have found PFOA contaminating groundwater, air and river discharges at the DuPont Circleville, Ohio, production facility. This news comes just a few weeks after reports indicated that groundwater wells and surface water at DuPont’s facilities in Fayetteville, North Carolina, US, were also contaminated with PFOA. An organisation known as the North Carolina C8 Working Group is claiming that DuPont had known about the contamination since 2003 (ECN 8 August).

All of this has come on top of the ongoing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation, a class action litigation being led by two Florida, US-based law firms and growing pressure from various action groups, which is all conspiring to give DuPont a bumpy ride on an issue that looks set to run and run.

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