ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS

DUPONT in the Safety arena for asbestos exposure to workers AGAIN

DuPont Co. exposed workers in Argentina to asbestos until the late 1990s despite knowing the risks of the material, according to three lawsuits filed Wednesday in Delaware.

The lawsuits came from former workers at a Lycra spandex plant in Mercedes, Argentina, that was part of DuPont until the sale of its textile unit in 2004. Read more...

Credibility Gap: Toxic Chemicals in Food Packaging and DuPont's Greenwashing

In 2006, under pressure from the U.S. EPA, DuPont and 7 other companies promised to phase out by 2015 a cancer-causing chemical called PFOA, used to make Teflon and also found in grease-resistant coatings for food packaging. In its place, the chemical industry is pushing new, supposedly "green" food package coatings.

But an investigation by Environmental Working Group (EWG) finds no evidence that the industry-touted replacement chemicals being rushed to market are safer -- and plenty of evidence that DuPont and other manufacturers are continuing a decades-long pattern of deception about the health risks of PFOA and related chemicals. Read more...

Dear Plenum Cable Advocates

Recent correspondence from a major fluoropolymer interest included cable-fire test data that was selected to show that non-plenum rated telecommunications cable in steel conduit does not meet the fire and smoke requirements set forth in the NFPA 90A standard today. The data and imagery provided with the correspondence seems to take aim at the fundamental premise that the NFPA 262 test predicts the performance of telecommunications cable in steel during a fire event. Read more...

LEGAL WOES FOR DuPont TEFLON®

Owners of Teflon coated cookware in 20 states and the District of Columbia have joined a lawsuit filed against DuPont Co., claiming the manufacturer failed to disclose possible health risks from using the nonstick pots and pans, attorneys said Monday.

The lawsuit asserts that DuPont knew Teflon could release chemicals that could become toxic when heated at temperatures easily reached when a typical stovetop is set on high. It also claims DuPont continued to tell the government and consumers for years that Teflon was safe even though its own studies showed otherwise. Read more...

DuPont Teflon Lawsuit Information
Get Help from an Experienced Toxic Pollutant Lawyer/Attorney

If you have been harmed by Teflon cookware, a Teflon lawyer or attorney can help you file a Teflon lawsuit and hold DuPont responsible for your injuries. Read more...

DuPont Sued in Class Action on Teflon
Damages Sought for Failure to Warn of Potential Health Risks

Miami's Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan and Berlin Along With
Ft. Lauderdale's Oppenheim Pilelsky Lead Nationwide Effort

WASHINGTON, D.C. and MIAMI - Class action litigation against the E.I. DuPont De Numours Company (NYSE: DD) is being filed in federal courts in states representing more than one-third of the nation's population. The suits allege that the chemical and manufacturing giant knew for more than 20 years that Teflon and its component chemicals had the potential to make people sick - and hid that fact from consumers.

The lawsuits are spearheaded by Miami-based Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin, P.L. and Ft. Lauderdale-based Oppenheim Pilelsky P.A. Read more...

Expert Panel Urges EPA to Strengthen Safety Review of Teflon Chemical
Majority Calls Widespread Pollutant "Likely Human Carcinogen"

(WASHINGTON, Jan. 30) - Today, a panel of outside experts gave draft comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) saying that an indestructible, toxic chemical that pollutes nearly every American's blood is a "likely human carcinogen." The panel urged the agency to adopt stricter guidelines to protect human health, according to a majority of its members. This announcement follows news just last week that the EPA signed a voluntary agreement with the chemical's maker, DuPont, and seven other companies to reduce the chemical's use in products by 95 percent over the next five years and aim for total elimination of its use by 2015. Read more...

DUPONT COVER UP CONFIRMED

Former DuPont Top Expert: Company Knew, Covered Up Pollution of Americans' Blood for 18 Years

Documents: Company Couldn't Find Safe Level of Exposure in 1973 to Chemical that Never Breaks Down, Clings to Human Blood

Study Results Show Company Found Safer Ways to Coat Food Packaging But Shelved Them to Save Money

Breakdown chemicals from these coatings and related sources are now in the blood of 95 percent of Americans, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has spent the last several years trying to determine how they get there. DuPont has claimed that it does not know how the chemicals got there - and that are not aware that their product is responsible. Read more...

EPA, DuPont Settle and Delay Court Case Over Human Pollution
Is DuPont Misleading Shareholders? Suspected Fine Falls Far Short of the Norm

(WASHINGTON, May 6) - The penalty DuPont will reportedly pay for covering up its pollution of newborn American babies with the cancer-causing Teflon chemical will likely be $15 million. This sum amounts to just 8 percent of the maximum allowable fine. Read more...

Officials Ask: Are Teflon Chemicals in Our Tap Water?

After EWG wrote to health officials in five states where companies use Teflon chemicals, water officials in Decatur, Alabama announced plans to test tap water. Teflon chemicals have turned up in water supplies near plants in Georgia, Minnesota, Ohio and West Virginia, so communities near plants around the country could be at risk.

Read the full article
Source: Environmental Working Group

MSDS for DuPont Teflon® FEP

Material Safety Data Sheet for Teflon® FEP

EWG Uncovers Another Suppressed Teflon Study

The Environmental Working Group today provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with documents showing that the Teflon maker failed to report new evidence that neighbors of the Parkersburg, WV Teflon plant have Teflon chemicals in their blood at rates many times higher than the American public. Read more...

3M suit targets plant in South Alabama

Chemical companies in row over EU's planned fire test that may expose dangers

A European Commission plan to test the acidic gases given off by cables when they burn has sparked bitter opposition from cable manufacturers, who say the scheme is misguided and could make fires more dangerous. Read more...

Chemical Industry Funds Aid EPA Study

The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to accept $2 million from the American Chemistry Council to help fund a study exploring the impact of pesticides and household chemicals on young children, prompting an outcry from environmentalists. Read more...

Group Demands Halt to Unethical, Scientifically Questionable Study in Which EPA and Chemical Industry Pay Families to Expose Children to Pesticides

(Washington, Oct. 29) - An Environmental Working Group (EWG) investigation into a controversial pesticide study found that the chemical industry's lobbying arm, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), boasted to its members that a $2 million contribution it made to the study had gained the industry "considerable leverage" over the project. Read more...

DuPont Sticks To Denials In Teflon Pollution Probe

DuPont denies that it had illegally suppressed birth defect and water pollution studies for 17 years as its Teflon-related chemical contaminated the bloodstream of virtually every American. Read more...

Environmental pressures may force Dupont to clean up or move. It may also increase cable prices.

After struggling with Teflon-related C-8 contamination from the nearby DuPont facility, Little Hocking Water Association issued an unusual warning along with its yearly report to consumers. Read more...

Limited Combustible Cable: A NFPA 90A Proposal for additional safety?

We have spent the past quarter of a century looking at half of the truth about Cabling and Safety. It is time to wise up and consider the full scope of issues and facts. Read more...

TOXIC TEFLON - Pulmonary Agents Check the MSDS for Teflon® FEP

Perfluoroisobutylene (PFIB) is a toxic pyrolysis product of tetrafluoroethylene polymers encountered in military material (e.g., Teflon7, found in the interior of many military vehicles). The oxides of itrogen (NOxs) are components of blast weapons or may be toxic decomposition products. Read more...

Study To Detect Levels Of Teflon Exposure = Big Impact on cable prices?

Two doctors will test residents in southeast Ohio and West Virginia to find out whether their bodies contain an unregulated chemical used to make Teflon and other products. Read more...

Abandoned Cable and Datacom Cabling & Safety Program

As if there weren't enough dire health warnings bombarding us daily, here's another - some cabling may be hazardous to your health. Read about Abandoned Cable and other issues.

Abandoned Cable PowerPoint Presentation given at the VDV/IBS Expo, Las Vegas, March 2004

Limited Combustible Cable" is 100% Recyclable?
"Hype - Hype - Hooray"
Technically, Yes…Functionally, NO

In the USA, there is a huge volume of installed communications cabling. Some estimates place the volume of the installed cable at more than 65 billion feet. Recent estimates indicate that there may be as much as 8.5 million miles of abandoned cable in the workplace.

Blood tests for DuPont's APFO (a.k.a. C-8) planned

Scientists working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are planning human blood tests for a family of chemicals that includes one made at DuPont's Fayetteville plant. Read more...

Can Non-Stick Make You Sick?

EPA Studying Whether Teflon Poses Health Risks

Datacom Cabling & Safety Program

As if there weren't enough dire health warnings bombarding us daily, here's another - some cabling may be hazardous to your health. Read more...

Hydrofluoric Acid MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) by DuPont

MSDS for Teflon FEP dated 1986

Big Changes On the Horizon for Communications Cabling

A proposed change in the National Electric Code for the NEC 2005 may force far-reaching changes in communications cabling. A move to replace CMP (plenum rated cable listing) with a variation on "limited combustible" cable listing could force cable manufacturers to rework their entire plenum cable product lines. Read more about this and other important findings about Hydrogen Fluoride and Fluorine gases. Readmore...

Environmental Working Group www.ewg.org challenges chemical company for failures in disclosure.

Cabling: What You Don't Know Can Kill You

Halogen cabling can emit toxic fumes in a fire. Many international governments have moved to less lethal alternatives. Why hasn’t the U.S. done the same? Read more...

C8 trial delayed by Supreme Court hearing

A September trial has been delayed in a pending lawsuit filed by residents alleging C8 emitted by the Washington Works DuPont plant has damaged their health. Read more...

DuPont needs to get priorities Straight

The controversy surrounding DUPont Co. and perfluorooctanoic acid contamination in public water systems near is Parkersburg, W. Va., fluoroproducts plant offers a lesson in how NOT TO BUILD COMMUNITY TRUST! Read more...

EPA launches probe into chemical found in many products, including Teflon®

The EPA released its preliminary assessment of the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, found in many products, including DuPont Co.'s Teflon and Stainmaster. The agency plans to review available facts and is also calling for the public to submit more information on PFOA

ens-news.com

DuPont Has Withheld Company Study From EPA for 22 Years

Results Show Teflon Chemical in Babies' Blood

EWG Alleges Serious Violation of Federal Law, Seeks Federal Investigation

www.ewg.org

TURI - Toxics Use Reduction Institute

Univeristy of Massachusetts - Lowell

Environmental, Health and Safety Issues in the Coated Wire and Cable Industry

www.turi.org/PDF/Wire_Cable_TechReport.

Building The Future

www.greenpeace.org - toxics

Plastics; Links to everything about plastics

www.mindfully.org - Plastic

Overview of the PVC issue

www.mrepc.com - PVC

This report, prepared for the Education Fund by Hammer Environmental Consulting in New York City, takes our past research one step further by looking at the feasibility of eliminating or minimizing the use of one specific type of product packaging - polyvinyl chloride.

www.masspirg.org - PVC

Chlorinated compounds, which comprise most of the POPs (Persistant Organic Pollutants) currently contaminating the planet, are used frequently by industries because they are very stable and resist breakdown processes. Unfortunately, because they are so stable, they persist in the environment and are now building up at an alarming rate in our air, water, food, and even our bodies.

www.greenpeaceusa.org - Toxics

The European Commission adopted on 26 July 2000 a Green Paper on environmental issues of PVC (COM(2000)469 final). This document presents and evaluates a number of issues regarding PVC and its impact on the environment.

europa.eu.int - PVC

The European Parliament voted Tuesday to substitute polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, to ban lead additives in PVC and to enforce separate waste collection of PVC due to concern over its hazardous properties.

ens.lycos.com - PVC

Fifteen states are probing the safety of vinyl toys to determine if they contain unhealthy levels of lead, cadmium and phthalates, a chemical additive that has been linked to cancer and kidney and liver damage.

angelsofhope.com - FYI StatesInvestigate Vinyl

EXPERIMENTING ON CHILDREN

www.inannareturns.com

The Chlorinated Substances Action Plan outlines Canada's approach to the management of chlorinated substances, and indicates that the approach is to "prune the chlorine-use tree, not cut it down".

www.on.ec.gc.ca

What do blood bags, IV bags, shower curtains, mineral water bottles, synthetic fibers, and our blood stream have in common? They all contain lead from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), otherwise known as "vinyl".

www.echic.com

An Evaluation of the Hazards of Toys and other Products made from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC).

www.turnertoys.com

There are 85,000 chemicals in commerce today, and the NTP can only provide toxicological evaluations on 10-20 per year.

ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov