Fwd: [SoFlaVegans] DuPont to Pay $16.5 Million for Unreported Risks

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Note: forwarded message attached.Ronald A. Fells

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DuPont to Pay $16.5 Million for Unreported Risks

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/politics/15enviro.html

 

[Letters to the editor:

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 - The Environmental Protection Agency said

Wednesday that it had reached a $16.5 million settlement with DuPont,

which it had accused of failing to report information about the

health and environmental risks of a substance used in making Teflon

and other plastics.

 

The settlement includes $10.25 million in fines, which the agency

says is the largest administrative penalty it has ever imposed, and a

commitment by DuPont to spend another $6.25 million for two

environmental projects in lieu of more fines.

 

" This settlement sends a strong message that companies are

responsible for promptly informing E.P.A. about risk information

associated with their products, " said Granta Y. Nakayama, assistant

administrator for the agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance

Assurance.

 

The agency said DuPont had withheld information about

perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical known as PFOA that is used in

processing high-performance plastics, from residents near the

company's plant in Parkersburg, W.Va., where the chemical

contaminated local waters. The agency said the company had

information on the chemical's potential risk as early as 1981 but did

not report it, as required by the federal Toxic Substances Control

Act.

 

Stacey J. Mobley, DuPont's general counsel, said the company had

interpreted the reporting requirements differently but had agreed to

the settlement " to get this case behind us. "

 

Under the agreement, DuPont was not required to admit liability, a

standard arrangement in cases the agency is eager to close.

 

While Mr. Nakayama described the size of the settlement as

" appropriate " when weighed against the costs of litigation, the

Environmental Working Group, a research organization, described it as

woefully inadequate for DuPont, the nation's third-largest chemical

company.

 

" This fine, at the very least, should have prompted DuPont to

apologize to the public for its actions, " said Ken Cook, president of

the group.

 

The information that the agency accused DuPont of withholding came to

light during a 2001 class action lawsuit against the company, filed

by residents living near the West Virginia plant who claimed that the

chemical had contaminated local waters. The company settled the case

last February for more than $107 million.

 

After Mr. Cook's group brought the information to the E.P.A., an

agency investigation led to eight charges against the company that

largely focused on studies of PFOA in blood, water and rats.

 

Officials from the agency and DuPont said that so far there were no

studies proving that PFOA was a significant health hazard to humans.

 

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