DuPont Covered up Teflon and Food Cancer Risks

[Angry Girl]

I know this is a couple of days old but I haven't seen it brought up here, so ... for all you types who think the Pharma companies are your friends and have only the best of intentions (I know, thankfully a rare breed at DU), we present....

DuPont hid Teflon-risk studies

DuPont Co. hid studies showing the risks of a Teflon-related chemical used to line candy wrappers, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags and hundreds of other food containers, according to internal company documents and a former employee.
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"What makes this worse is that DuPont knew at that time that Zonyl breakdown-products, such as PFOA, in food were very persistent in the environment and were contaminating human blood, including the fetal cord blood of babies born to DuPont female employees," EWG Senior Vice President Richard Wiles wrote to FDA and EPA officials.

Wiles asked the agencies to determine whether DuPont should be penalized for withholding the studies. Last year, based on another DuPont document that the environmental group obtained, EPA alleged the company had repeatedly failed over a 20-year period to submit required data about PFOA. The document referred to a study that suggested possible links between PFOA and birth defects in infants.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/health/13184886.htm

A slightly watered-down USA Today version:

Engineer: DuPont hid facts about paper coating

A former engineer for the DuPont company has accused his ex-employer of concealing test results almost two decades ago that showed toxic chemicals leaching out of a paper coating used to give grease resistance to microwave popcorn bags, fast food and candy wrappers, and pizza box liners.
<snip>
When ingested, these chemicals break down into perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical that an EPA expert panel this year found to be a likely human carcinogen. PFOA has been found in the blood of more than 95% of Americans, several studies have shows.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2005-11-16-dupont-usat_x.htm

And from JANUARY 2005, a headline most never saw...

EPA charges DuPont hid Teflon's risks

More than 50 years after DuPont started producing Teflon near this Ohio River town, federal officials are accusing the company of hiding information suggesting that a chemical used to make the popular stick- and stain-resistant coating might cause cancer, birth defects and other ailments.

Environmental regulators are particularly alarmed because scientists are finding perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, in the blood of people worldwide, and it takes years for the chemical to leave the body. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported last week that exposure even to low levels of PFOA could be harmful.

http://www.thememoryblog.org/archives/000432.html

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Yes, I am vindicated!

I have hated teflon for years, and have refused to have any teflon cookware.

Chemical companies will never tell the truth about their chemicals. Don't trust them.