Chemical giant DuPont has agreed to pay $3.3 million to the Environmental Protection Agency to settle charges of withholding results of health studies on toxic chemicals.
The case stemmed from DuPont’s failure to promptly submit 57 inhalation studies on compounds it was testing for possible use in a variety of products, including water repellents, sealants and paints.
Under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act, companies are required to immediately notify the EPA when their research shows that chemicals pose potential harm to people or the environment. According to the consent agreement settling the case, DuPont turned itself in in May, 2006, when it informed the EPA of its failure to submit results of dozens of inhalation studies performed on laboratory rats.
“DuPont failed to comply with the law and notify EPA that it had information on chemicals that could pose a risk to human health and the environment,” said the EPA’s Cynthia Giles, who works in the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “EPA is serious about making companies follow our nation’s laws and protecting public health.”
According to the Center for Public Integrity, the case sprung from a previous DuPont fine of more than $10 million for withholding research data on C8, a toxic compound used in production of Teflon. During investigation of that case in 2005, the EPA discovered that DuPont was following the wrong criteria for reporting chemical toxicity. As a result, the company submitted scores of additional studies the following year, of which 57 should have been previously reported.
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I see that the EPA can get paid. What I am wondering is when the people of the Mid Ohio Valley are going to get paid for their suffering. The EPA is there to protect the environment for the people of this country. What happens when both they and the corporations fail to provide any decency in operating? When do the people get paid for both of their failures? This chemical was dumped into a major river, the Ohio River, for more than 50 years. How is it that it was not discovered until 2006? I am appalled that the only group that is being paid is the EPA as are many other people affected by this chemical.
I have suffered with a condition which can only be a direct result of C8 being an endocrine disruptor. The very fact that Dupont has done nothing to come clean about this chemical has not afforded the medical community the opportunity to research ways to combat the illnesses which it has induced.
I will be infuriated if there is not some recourse soon. There is a distinct possibility that my children will have been affected by this chemical through the placenta during my pregnancies with them. Our entire area has been crippled by health concerns and no obvious sign of responsibility on the part of Dupont, no clinics for our care, no payment for our deaths and suffering. The cancer rates have already been established to be far exceeding expected rates in our population. Our overall health is horrendous and this has been like a holocaust of sorts for our area. The problem is, we are more concerned with people in other countries than our own. It is time that we focus on our health an welfare and take a humanitarian stance for our people. The number of people participating in this study exceeded 70,000 and that is only living subjects. There are countless people who have already passed away who will never be counted in this tragedy.
I think Dupont needs to make good for the people of the Mid Ohio Valley. They need to pay for what they have done and give as much aid and comfort they can instead of shirking their responsibilities and fighting a population that they have damaged through their knowledge of the health risks they posed. They CHOSE to pollute us because of the profits. We were unknowing victims in this fiasco. The EPA SHOULD HAVE KNOWN TOO! It is their responsibility to test the water and the Ohio River is huge!!! It is not some small creek which could have been overlooked.