Dupont to Conduct Studies on C-8

Most Americans have a trace amount of the chemical C-8 in their blood, and no one knows where it comes from. But the DuPont Company is going to conduct studies that could solve the mystery as part of a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:

Transcript

Most Americans have a trace amount of the chemical C-8 in their blood,
and no one knows where it comes from, but the DuPont Company is
going to conduct studies that could solve the mystery as part of a
settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:


DuPont spokesman Cliff Webb says the company will spend five million
dollars to investigate the potential breakdown in the environment of C-8,
a key ingredient in Teflon and other non-stick materials.


“We’ll hire independent third parties to serve as a panel administrator for
peer review and consultation, and then the panel will address any specific
activities and findings they see as a result of the study, and the public
will have an opportunity to nominate also a panel member.”


Webb says the three year study will focus on nine chemicals or products
that could release C-8, but he won’t divulge what they are, explaining
they’re confidential business information.


An EPA advisory group has concluded that C-8 is a “likely carcinogen,”
but DuPont disputes that.


Under the settlement agreement, DuPont also must pay a record fine of
more than 10-million dollars for failing to disclose C-8 data to regulators.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

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Settlement Reached Between Dupont and Epa

The Environmental Protection Agency says DuPont hid information about the dangers of a chemical used to manufacture Teflon. The allegations prompted an investigation by the EPA, and now, the company will pay 16.5 million dollars to settle the complaint. The EPA says it’s the largest administrative penalty it has ever won. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:

Transcript

The Environmental Protection Agency says DuPont hid information about the dangers of a
chemical used to manufacture Teflon. The allegations prompted an investigation by the EPA, and
now, the company will pay 16-point five million dollars to settle the complaint. The EPA says
it’s the largest administrative penalty it’s ever won. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred
Kight has the story:


Teflon is made using C-8, and the EPA alleged that for more than 20 years, DuPont withheld
information about the chemical’s health effects. The government also said DuPont didn’t tell what
it knew about the pollution of water supplies near one of its plants.


Tim Kropp is with the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C. He says what’s really
needed is for DuPont to quit making a product that’s been labeled a likely human carcinogen.


“DuPont has a pattern of supression and cover-up. They do not want to give public health
officials the information they need to answer these questions, and to solve these problems.”


DuPont says its interpretation of reporting requirements is different than the EPA’s and the
settlement closes the matter without any admission of wrongdoing.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

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Dupont’s Shareholders Ask About C-8

The company that makes a chemical needed to manufacture all those household Teflon products says it stands to lose millions of dollars if regulations are placed on the chemical. And a stockholders’ group is pressing for even more financial disclosure about the chemical known as C-8. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight reports:

Transcript

The company that makes a chemical needed to manufacture all those household Teflon
products says it stands to lose millions of dollars if regulations are placed on the
chemical. And a stockholders’ group is pressing for even more financial disclosure about
the chemical known as C-8. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight reports:


DuPont reported total revenue of 28 billion dollars in 2004. A group of shareholders
wanted to know how much of that 28 billion is at stake if C-8 were to be regulated. The
answer – about one billion.


Sanford Lewis is a spokesman for DuPont Shareholders for Fair Value. He says DuPont
should be even more forthcoming about the possible impact of controls on C-8.


“There is enough environmental and scientific evidence mounting, that the company really
ought to come forward and tell us can it get rid of these chemicals in its products and
preserve this amount of value.”


Currently, C-8 is unregulated, but that could change since some tests have shown the
compound can cause cancer in humans. A DuPont spokesman says C-8 has no
replacement and the benefits to consumers outweigh potential environmental costs.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

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Epa Proposes Air Pollution Rule Change

A proposed change to an air pollution control rule has electric utilities applauding and environmentalists crying foul. The proposal comes from the Environmental Protection Agency and will make changes to the so-called “New Source Review” rules. The rules cover utility companies that make improvements to their coal-fired power plants. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:

Transcript

A proposed change to an air pollution control rule has electric
utilities applauding and environmentalists crying foul. The proposal
comes from the Environmental Protection Agency and will make changes to
the so-called ‘New Source Review’ rules. The rules covers utility
companies that make improvements to their coal-fired power plants.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:


The provision in question requires the utilities to install new and
expensive controls if the improvements result in increased air
pollution. The question is – how do you determine if there’s more
pollution?


Should it be measured as an annual total? – the current method – or by
the hour? – the proposed method.


Melissa McHenry is a spokeswoman for American Electric Power, one of
the biggest power producers in the nation…


“We support the EPA’s proposal because it provides clarity. It also
makes the rule consistent with the emissions test for other Clean Air
Act rules.”


But environmentalists claim the draft regulation would make it easier
for plants to avoid installing pollution controls.


One clean air advocate says the proposed EPA rule would lead to tens of
thousands of premature deaths by 2025.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

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Re-Using Power Plant Pollutant

Coal fired power plants use chemical scrubbers in their
smokestacks to reduce pollution. Now researchers are working on
ways to re-use what’s scrubbed out of the stacks. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has more:

Transcript

Coal fired power plants use chemical scrubbers in their smokestacks to
reduce pollution. Now researchers are working on ways to re-use what’s
scrubbed out of the stacks. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight
has more:


Warren Dick is a soil scientist at Ohio State University. He’s been
studying synthetic gypsum, which comes from coal-fired power plants that
use scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. While nobody wants sulfur
in the air we breathe, Dick says it is often needed by farmers for some of
their crops.


“Sulfur is one of five or six major plant nutrients that are required for good
plant growth, and our soils are becoming deficient in sulfur. We’re not
getting it out of the atmosphere as much anymore.”


Dick’s research shows crops do better using synthetic gypsum as a sulfur
fertilizer. Coal is burned to generate more than half of the electricity in
the U.S., but it results in approximately 120 million tons of waste
each year, and Dick says the tonnage is likely to increase as
additional clean air measures are imposed.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

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A Safer Stain-Resistant Chemical?

Chemists at the University of North Carolina have developed a new material for making stain resistant coatings that they say will not contaminate the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:

Transcript

Chemists at the University of North Carolina have developed a new material for making stain resistant coatings that they say will not contaminate the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:


The problem with many stain resistant coatings on clothing and paper goods is that they gradually breakdown into C8, a compound that an Environmental Protection Agency advisory board terms a “likely carcinogen.”


Chemistry professor Joseph DeSimone and his colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have come up with something they’re calling “C4 plus.” The new material uses a type of fluorocarbon which is less likely to degrade.


Paul Anastas is director of the Green Chemistry Institute and he says C4 plus is just what the doctor ordered.


“What Joe DeSimone is doing is designing our next generation of substances so that they are not going to be harmful to human health and the environment.”


Anastas says manufacturers could switch to the “greener” ingredient very soon.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

Dupont to Pay for Health Testing

  • Teflon is best known for making pans similar to this one "non-stick." But in Teflon's production at an Ohio plant, some of the chemical's ingredients have seeped into the groundwater. (Photo by Davide Guglielmo)

The non-stick substance Teflon is made at a DuPont plant near the Ohio-West Virginia border. The groundwater around this area has been contaminated by a chemical used to make Teflon. The chemical is known as C8. Now, 60,000 residents will be tested to find out whether the chemical is harmful to human health. It could end up being the largest public health screening to occur in the United States. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight reports:

Transcript

The non-stick substance Teflon is made at a DuPont plant near the Ohio-West Virginia border. The groundwater around this area has been contaminated by a chemical used to make Teflon. The chemical is known as C8. Now, sixty thousand residents will be tested to find out whether the chemical is harmful to human health. It could end up being the largest public health screening to occur in the United States. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight reports:


The testing is just getting underway on people who have been drinking water contaminated by C8.
It’s being done as part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the company.


Residents of nearby water districts accuse the company of witholding information about the health threats posed by C8. Project coordinator Art Maher says medical histories, personal information and blood samples will be collected from the test subjects, who will be paid for their participation.


“That information then will be fed into a database that ultimately will be passed on to the next step of the settlement agreement, which would be the science panel who would interpret the data.”


If the experts determine there is a link between C8 and any disease, DuPont will be required to spend as much as 235 million dollars on a medical monitoring program for additional testing.


For the GLRC, this is Fred Kight.

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Dupont Pledges to Cut Back on Controversial Chemical

The makers of the non-stick coating Teflon say they’re going to reduce the amount of a chemical that’s causing health concerns. The chemical is used in the manufacturing process. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight
reports:

Transcript

The makers of the non-stick coating Teflon say they’re going to reduce the amount of a
chemical that’s causing health concerns. The chemical is used in the manufacturing
process. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight reports:


The DuPont Company says the output of the chemical known as C8 will be cut by 90
percent by the end of next year. The chemical giant had agreed to the action in a deal
with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is studying whether C8 poses
health risks to humans.


DuPont continues to argue that C8 is not harmful.


Just a few weeks ago, a judge okayed the settlement of a class action lawsuit in which the
company consented to pay at least 107 million dollars to resolve contamination claims by
residents living near one of its plants in West Virginia.


A local water district official welcomes the C8 cut but says he wishes they had done it 20
years ago. And an official with the organization Environmental Working Group
complains the plan did not go far enough and would not eliminate exposure
to the chemical.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

Related Links

Teflon Chemical Lawsuit Finalized

The makers of Teflon could have to pay out more than 440-million dollars as the result of a recently settled water contamination lawsuit. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:

Transcript

The makers of Teflon could have to pay out more than 440 million dollars as the result of a
recently settled water contamination lawsuit. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight
has the story:


The DuPont company was sued in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of 80-thousand residents
whose drinking water contains trace amounts of a chemical known as C8. The chemical is used
to make Teflon… and manufactured at a plant near Parkersburg, West Virginia.


DuPont officials say C8 does not pose any health risk but Joe Kiger isn’t so sure. Kiger was the
lead plaintiff in the case. He says the most important part of the settlement is an independent
medical study that will be done to determine if C8 can make people sick…


“I’m concerned about my health as well as my familiy’s health, my wife’s and the people in the
community because this is a major thing.”


DuPont will have to pay 107 million dollars for the study, new treatment equipment for local
water utilities and legal fees and expenses for the residents who sued. It could have to pay
another 235 million for environmental clean up and health monitoring if C8 is found to be toxic.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

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Walleye Discovery to Change Management Practices

  • Researchers have found a strain of walleye that is adapted specifically to the Ohio River. (Photo Courtesy of the USGS)

Scientists have identified a unique strain of walleye that lives in the Ohio River. The discovery has wildlife officials thinking about the way things were and how they could be once again. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight explains:

Transcript

Scientists have identified a unique strain of walleye that lives in
the Ohio River.
The discovery has wildlife officials thinking about the way things
were and how they could be once again.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight explains:


Fishing for walleye is a big sport on Lake Erie, but many people do
not know that the fish also live in the Ohio River.
Matthew White is a Biological Sciences professor at Ohio University.
He helped determine that the Ohio River walleye have a different
genetic
make-up from those in Lake Erie and other northern lakes.


White says the original walleye species was severed from the other
tens of thousands of years ago when the river that is now the Ohio was
blocked and stopped flowing into Lake Erie.


“These walleye evolved in the river, so they’re well adapted to the
river environment. And these walleye have also survived the 100 years of
abuse that we heaped on the river.”


Armed with this new information, wildlife officials are taking steps
to alter their practice of importing Lake Erie Walleye.
Instead, they’ll use the native species for their stocking program.


For the GLRC, I’m Fred Kight.

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