DuPont Accused of Inaction on Fluorochemical

DuPont failed to act after a 1987 study showed that a fluorochemical used to coat food containers migrated from paper at unsafe levels, according to a former company scientist and an internal corporate document.

The product in question, Zonyl RP, is a mixture of short fluorinated polymers. It breaks down into perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), says former DuPont researcher Glenn Evers. PFOA is a persistent compound increasingly found in the blood of people and wildlife around the world. Science advisers to EPA have preliminarily determined that PFOA is a likely human carcinogen (C&EN, July 4, page 5).

Zonyl RP is used to repel grease on paper and paperboard products in contact with food, such as pizza box liners and microwave popcorn bags. FDA allows up to 0.2 ppm of the chemical to move into food from paper coated with the compound, Evers told reporters on Nov. 16.

A 1987 DuPont internal memo, released on Nov. 16 by the Environmental Working Group, shows that in a test run by a contract laboratory, 0.62 ppm of Zonyl RP migrated out of coated paper and into water placed on the paper’s surface. DuPont could have warned its customers or switched to either of two new grease-repelling products it was developing, Evers alleges, but it did not.

A statement from DuPont says Zonyl RP is safe for consumer use and that the company has complied with FDA regulations regarding the product. Zonyl RP “is a very small part of DuPont’s paper-coating business,” the company adds.

DuPont and Evers both say he lost his job in a downsizing in 2002 after 22 years at the firm. Evers, a researcher who specialized in fluorotelomers for coating paper, characterizes himself as a “company man.” He says DuPont targeted him for a layoff after he voiced concerns about the safety of Zonyl RP. He recently filed suit against the company seeking to “set the record straight” about the loss of his job, says his attorney, Herbert G. Feuerhake.

Since he lost his job, Evers, now a consultant, has testified as an unpaid expert witness in two civil cases against DuPont.