The Associated Press reports that DuPont Co. hid studies showing the risks of a Teflon-related chemical used to line candy wrappers, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, and hundreds of other food containers. According to the news service, the revelation comes from internal company documents and a former employee.
It is believed that the Teflon-related chemical can break down into perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts, known as PFOA, once in the body. The EPA has been trying to decide whether to classify PFOA as a likely human carcinogen. The FDA, in a letter released Wednesday evening by DuPont, said it was continuing to monitor the safety of PFOA chemicals in food.
The DuPont documents were made public Wednesday by the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization. During a news conference at the group’s office, a former DuPont chemical engineer, Glenn Evers, said the company long suppressed its studies showing that PFOA chemicals are toxic. Evers, who lost his job at DuPont where he worked from 1981 to 2002, believes DuPont “pushed” him out of the company during a company restructuring because he raised safety concerns about the chemicals.
