‘Green’ Governor (Schwarzenegger) Pressed to Stop Teflon-Chemical’s ‘Toxic Trespass’ on Babies

[Omaha Steve]

http://sacramento.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?newsid=125771&type_news=latest

News From USW: ‘Green’ Governor Pressed to Stop Teflon-Chemical’s ‘Toxic Trespass’ on Babies
Sacramento -

SACRAMENTO -- News From USW: Today health, labor and environmental groups petitioned Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointed commission to list the Teflon-chemical as “known to the state of California” to cause reproductive harm under Proposition 65.

“Our government must act quickly to stop the toxic trespass on our babies,” said Catherine Houston, mother and business representative of United Steelworkers Local 1304 in San Leandro.

In a recent study, Johns Hopkins University researchers found a link between PFOA – a chemical used to make Teflon – and the lower birth weight and smaller head circumference of newborns. Of 300 babies, 99 percent had PFOA in their umbilical cords, showing that babies are exposed while still in the womb.

PFOA is found in stain and grease repellents, such as Stainmaster®, fast food packaging and microwave popcorn. In addition it can be released from Teflon-coated pans at high cooking temperatures.

Proposition 65 is the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. If listed as a reproductive toxin, businesses would be prohibited from discharging PFOA into drinking water and be required to provide warnings on consumer items – unless they could show that the exposure creates no significant risk.

DuPont is the only industrial producer of PFOA in the United States. In 2005, DuPont was fined with the largest civil administrative penalty in the Environmental Protection Agency’s history for withholding evidence about the risks of PFOA to human health. Among other things, DuPont withheld a 1981 survey that showed two of eight female workers exposed to PFOA had children with birth defects. Even though the rate of birth defects found was significantly greater than the general population, the company did not do any further studies.

FULL story at link.

[zabet]

1. DuP is guilty of far worse environmental and health crimes.

They dumped HFA in the Cape Fear River for months, killed the aquatic life at the
waste treatment plant twice before an EPA spot check caught it.
Every town downstream from this plant site that gets water from this river, has a
higher rate of spinal bifada birth defects (a known hazard to exposed pregnant women
listed on the MSDS sheets for the chemicals). The same process that leaked into the
river was accidently fed into the plants drinking water via a failed check valve, the
one pregnant female, with no history of this disorder from her or her husband's family,
with no deficiency of folic acid, and a previous healthy birth 18 months earlier...
her child was born with spial bifida after she drank the water for a period of time.
DuP paid for in-utero surgery and thus far has taken care of all medical expenses.

This plant also operated for 20+ years classified as an experimental station to skirt
adhering to stricter EPA laws.

If you wanna know how I know...PM me.
The HFA dump was in the local papers but played way down as they are the highest paying
and highest tax paying company in the county.