WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Jan. 25 announcement of its 2010/15 PFOA Stewardship Program, there have been confusing headlines and coverage. We are providing the following information to ensure that you have the facts.
1. DuPont (NYSE: DD) has committed to virtually eliminate the sources
of exposure to PFOA from our manufacturing operations and products
by 2015.
We believe this meets the goals set forth by the EPA. Those goals
are:
-- To commit to achieve, no later than 2010, a 95 percent
reduction, measured from a year 2000 baseline, in both:
- facility emissions to all media of PFOA, precursor chemicals
that can break down to PFOA, and related higher homologue
chemicals, and;
- product content levels of PFOA, precursor chemicals that can
break down to PFOA, and related higher homologue chemicals.
-- To commit to working toward the elimination of PFOA, PFOA
precursors, and related higher homologue chemicals from
emissions and products by five years thereafter, or no later
than 2015.
2. DuPont will continue to meet the needs of its customers.
DuPont believes, with its science and technology, that the EPA's
goals can be achieved while continuing to provide fluoropolymer
and fluorotelomer products to meet its customers' needs.
3. DuPont will continue to use the Teflon(R) brand and support
Teflon(R) branded products to meet the needs of its customers.
Teflon(R) is not PFOA. Teflon(R) is a brand name and a registered
trademark of DuPont. DuPont will continue to use the Teflon(R)
brand.
4. Consumer products associated with PFOA are safe for consumer use.
Federal regulatory agencies have not called on consumers to stop
using products made with or containing trace amounts of PFOA.
DuPont agrees fully with their conclusions. To date no human
health effects are known to be caused by PFOA.
DuPont believes the weight of evidence indicates that PFOA
exposure does not pose a health risk to the general public. Also,
in over 50 years of working with PFOA, there is no association of
cancer in workers who handle or use PFOA.
5. Cookware made with Teflon(R) non-stick coatings is made from
fluoropolymers, not PFOA.
PFOA is an essential processing aid used to make fluoropolymers -
high performance plastics manufactured by a number of companies.
PFOA and Teflon(R) are entirely different - one is a processing
aid, the other is a product brand. It is inaccurate to describe
PFOA as an ingredient in cookware coated with Teflon(R). PFOA is
a processing aid used to manufacture fluoropolymers, some of which
are sold under the Teflon(R) brand.
6. Studies based on U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) standard
testing methods that reflect typical cooking use conditions have
found no detectable levels of PFOA in non-stick coatings used for
cookware sold under the Teflon(R) brand.
The FDA has determined that non-stick coatings are acceptable for
conventional kitchen use. Also, in 2003 the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission rejected a petition to require a label warning
for non-stick coatings. Cookware coated with Teflon(R) has been
safely used for more than 40 years.
7. Soil, stain and grease repellants are made from fluorotelomers,
not PFOA.
Fluorotelomer products are not made with, nor do they use, PFOA in
the manufacturing process. PFOA is an unintended byproduct created
during the manufacture of fluorotelomers and is present at trace
levels in some of these products. Studies show that the use of
consumer articles based on fluorotelomers would not result in any
detectable exposure to PFOA. DuPont has committed to the EPA to
virtually eliminate trace quantities of PFOA in our soil, stain
and grease repellant products.
The following links are provided for additional information:
1) EPA News Release on 2010/15 PFOA Stewardship Program
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/177f410e8a398c0f852570210
05643a7/fd1cb3a075697aa485257101006afbb9!OpenDocument
2) DuPont News Release
http://www2.dupont.com/Media_Center/en_US/news_releases/2006/artic
le20060125d.html
3) Teflon(R) Website
http://teflon.com/NASApp/Teflon/TeflonPageServlet?pageId=/consumer
/na/eng/news/news_detail.safetyconcerns.html
4) EPA and FDA Statements
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/pfoa/pfoafcts.pdf
http://www2.dupont.com/PFOA/en_US/pdf/FDAlettertoEWG_122005.pdf
5) DuPont Statement on Health Effects
http://www2.dupont.com/PFOA/en_US/about_pfoa/pfoa_health_effects.h
tml
First Call Analyst: Carl LukachFCMN Contact: marie.l.beletti-2@usa.dupont.com
Website: http://www.dupont.com/