BUSINESS: Dupont Hid Chemical Risk Study

A former Dupont chemical engineer, Glenn Evers, claims that the company hid results of risk studies on the chemical Zonyl. Evers claims Dupont suppressed the studies because they show the chemical breaks down in the body into very toxic acids and salts.



One must wonder if Dupont knowingly exposed millions, maybe billions of people to this potential carcinogen, PFOA. Reading on I see that the FDA has approved the use of Zonyl since way back in the 1970's.

Evidently the Zonyl migrates into the food packaged in it fairly easily. Once in the body the studies claim Zonyl breaks down into perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts which are potential carcinogens.

How in the world does the FDA not get these risk studies? Why in the world would Dupont's employees, managers and executives allow this to happen knowing full well their own children and family members would be consuming this stuff as well?!

Is this simply a disgruntled former employee trying to cause trouble for the company he feels ran him off unjustly or another example of just how utterly STUPID people can be?

One thing for sure is Evers has been nailing Dupont to the wall the past couple years. He testified in one case that cost the company >$100,000,000.00. That's alot of money even for Dupont.

This is a tough one to call at this point. Until we get a definitive answer on whether or not this stuff is a carcinogen, whether or not Dupont really did suppress negative findings (that one seems pretty apparent at this point) and the FDA was so incompetant as to allow this product on the market in the HUGE scale it is we really won't know if there is a conspiracy of greed here or not.

It's frightening to think that people would endanger themselves and their own families just to make a few billion dollars.

Springer...

Related News Links:
www.ewg.org
www2.dupont.com





[edit on 11-17-2005 by Springer]

You might be surprised just how many people I might endanger for "a few billion dollars."

You would endanger your family - your children?
Every family, every children, everybody within your country?

(...Are you still on your mind?)


Pure big greed and nothing else?
Yes, such a greed is a source for unethical behavior.


The article says, Evers helped DuPont develop new products from 1981 to 2002, that is a long time.

First I thought it could be personal reverange, because he lost his job in 2002 and the DuPont says Evers "had little if any direct involvement in PFOA issues while employed at DuPont".

But it seems to be that there is more:

One of the documents, a 1987 memo, cites laboratory tests showing the chemical came off paper coating and leached into foods at levels three times higher than the FDA limit set in 1967.

Another document, a 1973 Dupont study in which rats and dogs were fed Zonyl for 90 days, said both types of animals had anemia and damage to their kidneys and livers; the dogs had higher cholesterol levels.

(source )

Evers claims seems to be right.



[edit on 17-11-2005 by Riwka]

Reading this it seems like we shouldn't be cooking in teflon coated pans either. It's perfectly obivous the coating breaks down as it does wear away from the pots and pans. How much of it is in the food? It's been known for years that if you begin to heat the pan without anything in it and your pet bird is nearby, it may well keel over and die from the fumes. Oh well.

I have eaten quite a lot of food prepared in and with teflon-coated products. Teflon is a great product, as anyone who remembers the days of seasoning skillets and stuff burned on bad enough to make disposal a rational remedy.

"They are toxic," Evers said of the PFOA chemicals. "They get into human blood. And they are also in every one of you. Your loved ones, your fellow citizens."

news.yahoo.com...

No doubt this is true, but also consider what it took to create symptoms in research animals:

Another document, a 1973 Dupont study in which rats and dogs were fed Zonyl for 90 days, said both types of animals had anemia and damage to their kidneys and livers; the dogs had higher cholesterol levels.

news.yahoo.com...

I have to wonder how many omelets, bags of popcorn and pizzas must be consumed to equal being fed Zonyl for 90 days?

At least, Silverstone has rendered teflon cookeware obsolete.

Yeah, there is no need for Teflon inside our cooking utensils anymore. The newer coatings are just as good and they are a whole lot harder to boot.