http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/b1ab9f485b098972852562e7004dc686/826fe743d67d744685256f620074c136!OpenDocument
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency
Press Advisory: December
6,2004
Contact: John Millett 202-564-7842 / millett.john@epa.gov
EPA Files New Claim Alleging
DuPont Withheld PFOA Information
Today, EPA filed a new claim against DuPont seeking penalties for withholding
the results of human blood sampling information that demonstrates levels
of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in individuals living near a DuPont Facility
in West Virginia. The administrative complaint seeks penalties of up to
$32,500 per day from as early as Aug. 28, 2004 through Oct. 12, 2004, for
failing to report this substantial risk information under the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA). EPA received this information, which should have been
reported immediately by DuPont, several weeks after DuPont allegedly received
the results. EPA has also filed a Motion to Consolidate this new Complaint
with a previous Complaint filed against DuPont on July 8, 2004, so that
the Agency may pursue both actions against DuPont in one proceeding before
Administrative Law Judge Barbara A. Gunning.
At issue in this enforcement
action is information that DuPont obtained and failed to report regarding
blood serum analysis performed in July 2004 of 12 members of the general
population living near DuPont’s Washington Works Facility. Each of
the 12 individuals tested was exposed to PFOA through drinking water provided
by the Lubeck Public Service District where, according to DuPont, the level
of PFOA in the drinking water has averaged approximately 0.5 parts per billion
(ppb) over the last several years. All 12 of the individuals
tested claim to have stopped using the contaminated public drinking water
as their primary source of drinking water approximately three years ago.
While the average background level of PFOA in individuals
residing in the United States is estimated to be approximately 5 ppb, the
documented levels of PFOA in these 12 individuals from West Virginia range
from 15.7 ppb to 128 ppb, with a mean of 67 ppb.
The agency regards this
information as useful in its ongoing priority review of PFOA. EPA has been
closely studying PFOA for the past three years and will issue a draft risk
assessment in early 2005. To learn more about the agency’s study of
PFOA, visit: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/pfoa/
.
PFOA is associated with
Ammonium Perfluorooctanoate (APFO), a synthetic processing aid in the manufacture
of fluoropolymers, including some products at DuPont’s Washington
Works Facility in Washington, W.Va. The previous complaint against DuPont
involved information about the movement of PFOA from a pregnant woman to
her baby, and the contamination of public drinking water supplies in the
vicinity of DuPont’s Washington Works Facility. EPA’s announcement
of the first complaint was posted on July 8, 2004 in the News Releases section
of http://www.epa.gov/newsroom/ and is provided below:
To view the new complaint,
visit: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/complaints/civil/mm/dupont2-pfoa-complaint.pdf
.
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Following is EPA's announcement of the first complaint,
originally released July 8, 2004:
US EPA Press Advisory:
July 8, 2004
EPA Takes Enforcement
Action Against DuPont For Toxic Substances Reporting Violations
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) is taking
an administrative action against E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company (DuPont)
for two violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and one violation
of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These violations consist
of multiple failures to report information to EPA about substantial risk
of injury to human health or the environment from a chemical during a period
beginning in June of 1981 through March of 2001. Companies are required
by TSCA to report such information immediately. EPA has the authority to
seek a penalty of $25,000 per day for violations occurring before January
30, 1997, and up to $27,500 per day for violations occurring thereafter,
for each day that DuPont failed to report the information. EPA alleges that
DuPont did not submit to the Agency information the company had obtained
regarding the synthetic chemical Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA). PFOA is
used in the manufacturing process for fluoropolymers, including some Teflon®
products, at DuPont’s Washington Works facility in Washington, West
Virginia.
In 1981, the company
observed PFOA in blood samples taken from pregnant workers at the Washington
Works facility and at least one woman had transferred the chemical to her
fetus. DuPont detected the chemical in public water supplies as early as
the mid-1980s in West Virginia and Ohio communities in the vicinity of the
Washington Works facility. By 1991 DuPont had information that the chemical
was in water supplies at a greater level than the company’s exposure
guidlelines indicated would be without any effect to members of the community.
In 1997, DuPont failed to provide EPA with all toxicological information
the company had regarding PFOA, despite an EPA request for such information
under the terms of an EPA-issued RCRA permit. An attorney working on a class
action suit on behalf of citizens in Ohio and West Virginia brought this
information to the EPA in 2001.
The information that
DuPont had obtained about PFOA was, and continues to be, pertinent to the
Agency's ongoing work to better understand PFOA. Since April 2003, EPA has
been working cooperatively with DuPont, 3M, other companies, and interested
parties to develop the information necessary to better understand the sources
and exposure pathways of PFOA. This public effort will lead to the development
of information that will assist the Agency in determining what voluntary
or regulatory actions, if any, would be appropriate to protect human health
and environment. This rigorous scientific review will ensure that any future
regulatory action on PFOA is protective of public health and supported by
the best scientific information. EPA is working to complete a revised risk
assessment, which will be released in Fall 2004 for public peer review by
the Agency’s Science Advisory Board. To learn more about the Agency’s
ongoing evaluation of PFOA, visit: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/pfoa/ .
To view the complaint,
visit: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/complaints/civil/mm/dupont-pfoa-complaint.pdf
.
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