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DuPont Hopes Teflon Charges Don't Stick

Judge Prepares to Hear Barrage of Class Action Lawsuits

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 4, 2006

Teflon • Teflon Chemicals Found In Human Breast Milk • DuPont Hopes Teflon Charges Don't Stick • Study Finds Teflon Chemical In Newborns' Umbilical Cords • DuPont Agrees To Teflon Pollution Curbs • Whistleblower Claims DuPont Failed to Act on Food Contamination Danger • Claims Against Teflon May Not Stick • Teflon Ingredient Found in North Carolina Groundwater • Grand Jury Probes Chemical Used in Teflon • Teflon Chemicals Found in Humans

A $5 billion struggle over the safety of Teflon-coated cookware kicks off in a Des Moines courtroom later this month, as a team of lawyers representing more than 72 clients fires the opening shots in a complex class-action case that's likely to drag on for years.

The initial lawsuits were filed on behalf of 72 consumers from Florida, Massachusetts, California and elsewhere. The plaintiffs don't claim actual injury. Rather, they want the courts to order Teflon manufacturer DuPont to pay for the medical monitoring they say they need because of their exposure to Teflon cookware.

The suits also seek reimbursement for the purchase price of the cookware and punitive damages for DuPont's alleged failure to warn consumers of the supposed dangers posed by Teflon, which has been on the market since 1946.

The suits allege that DuPont withheld information about a chemical used to make Teflon. They allege that toxic gases are emitted when the pans are heated to 464 degrees or higher. Documents allege that the chemicals have been known to cause cancer in laboratory animals, and that fumes have killed pet birds kept in unventilated kitchens.

"The claim we're bringing is really a consumer class action related to the failure to warn," Alan Kluger, a Miami attorney expected to lead the battle against DuPont, told the Des Moines Register. "The basic concept is that when corporate America has information, the public has a right to know."

Kluger said the lawsuits could lead to "millions and millions of people getting hundreds of dollars, as opposed to tens of thousands of dollars."

In 2004, DuPont agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by about 50,000 people who lived near its West Virginia plant. The residents claimed the company contaminated local water supplies with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and alleged the chemical was linked to birth defects and other health hazards. DuPont paid $50 million to the residents and agreed to spend $10 million on special water treatment facilities.

However, DuPont did not accept liability and has since maintained that PFOA is not a danger to the public and that Teflon-coated cookware is safe.

Studies have found that PFOA is in the bloodstreams of nearly everyone in the U.S., and now a new study suggests the potential carcinogen is present in many people at birth. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Center say the chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA, was found in nearly every blood sample taken from umbilical cords. Of 300 cords tested, 298 tested positive for PFOA, according to the study.

The Environmental Protection Agency says DuPont has agreed to virtually eliminate any new emissions from its plants making the non-stick surface by 2010 because of growing concerns about PFOA in the environment.

Most medical researchers see the presence of PFOA in the environment as the primary potential health threat, not the presence of Teflon in cookware.

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