- US chemicals giant DuPont is facing a lawsuit accusing
the company of failing to warn consumers about the health hazards of Teflon
non-stick coatings.
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- Two Florida law firms said they were filing the suit
on behalf of 14 people who bought and used Teflon cookware.
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- DuPont denied the claims, stating its products were safe
and has vowed to vigorously defend itself.
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- Plaintiffs want DuPont to spend $5bn to replace million
of people's pots and pans and to issue Teflon warnings.
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- They also want a fund to be created for medical monitoring
of people who bought Teflon products.
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- Cancer fears
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- Teflon was invented in the 1930s by DuPont, the US firm
which uses it today to make non-stick cookware, and also markets it as
a coating for clothes and carpets.
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- It contains perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical
which some scientists say is "likely" to be carcinogenic to humans.
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- "DuPont has known for over 20 years that the Teflon
product and the PFOA chemical it contains causes cancer in laboratory animals,"
said Miami-based lawyer Alan Kluger.
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- "I don't have to prove that it causes cancer. I
only have to prove that DuPont lied in a massive attempt to continue selling
their product."
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- However DuPont, denied the claims. "Consumers using
products sold under the Teflon brand are safe," a spokesman said.
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- "Cookware coated with DuPont Teflon non-stick coatings
does not contain PFOA."
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- Class action
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- Last year, the company agreed an out-of-court settlement
in a class action lawsuit brought by about 50,000 residents who lived near
its West Virginia plant.
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- The residents, who lived along the Ohio river south of
Parkersburg, West Virginia, claimed the company had contaminated local
water supplies with PFOA.
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- They alleged the chemical was linked to birth defects
and other health hazards.
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- DuPont eventually agreed to pay $50m in cash to the plaintiffs,
plus $22m in legal costs. It also agreed to spend $10m on special water
treatment facilities to filter out PFOA.
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- But DuPont did not accept liability and has maintained
that PFOA does not pose any danger to the public.
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- In May this year, DuPont received a subpoena from the
US Environmental Crimes Section to turn over documents about PFOA.
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- That followed an agreement from DuPont to settle allegations
by the Environmental Protection Agency that it had failed to disclose heath
data about PFOA for 20 years.
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- © BBC MMV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4697939.stm
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