DuPont and EPA Finalize Teflon Toxic Chemical Settlement

An agreement has been reached with Federal regulators and DuPont to settle allegations that the company hid information about the dangers of a toxic chemical known as C8 in the manufacture of Teflon, according to a published report. 

Lawyers for DuPont and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told an administrative law judge on Nov. 23 that they had reached a final agreement, but needed more time to put together the paperwork, according to a report Tuesday in The Charleston Gazette. Officials from the EPA and DuPont refused to release terms of the deal.

The EPA alleged that for 20 years DuPont covered up important information about C8's health effects and about the pollution of water supplies near Dupont's Washington Works plant. Under federal law, DuPont could face civil fines of more than $300 million for not reporting information that showed C8 posed "substantial risk of injury to health or the environment."

DuPont has maintained the C8, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA, has no negative health effects. -- As reported by the Associated Press