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Keep Your Promises hits DuPont in C8 report

PARKERSBURG – A DuPont-Chemours watch group this week issued a report it says is a comprehensive summary of the companies’ worldwide liabilities from C8 contamination, but the report was “misleading and inaccurate in many respects,” Chemours said.

Keep Your Promises DuPont cited five areas of liability, including contamination at a plant in Shimizu, Japan, where the levels found in workers are the highest heretofore seen, said Mark Fleischman of Keep Your Promises.

“Those are DuPont numbers,” he said.

C8 has been linked to six human diseases, according to the science panel study of medical data from 70,000 residents in the Mid-Ohio Valley required in the settlement of a class action lawsuit from C8 exposure from the DuPont Washington Works Plant. C8, also known as PFOA, was used to make Teflon and its use has been discontinued at the Washington Works.

Chemours was spun off from DuPont last year. Keep Your Promises was created to ensure someone remained responsible for the liabilities, the group said.

The Keep Your Promises report was released in anticipation of the Chemours and DuPont annual general meetings on Wednesday, Fleischman said. The organization cites liabilities from:

* C8 contamination from the Teflon plant in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, where representatives from Keep Your Promises, including Dr. Paul Brooks of Vienna, recently met and spoke with residents, scientists and politicians.

The Dutch Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment has asked for an accelerated testing program on residents based on early test results showing “serious levels of exposure,” the report said.

* Contamination from the Teflon plant in Shimizu where workers in several stages “of the production process have shown exceptionally high C8 levels in their blood and C8 has been detected in 10 wells at the production facility,” the report said.

The concentrations of C8 in the blood serum of plant workers considered to have the least exposure to the chemical were 111 parts per billion to 822 ppb, much greater than the average 350 ppb in the DuPont worker in the Mid-Ohio Valley, said Jeffrey Dugas, a spokesman for Keep Your Promises, citing test results from DuPont. C8 at 5 ppb in people can lead to high cholesterol, he said.

* Growing liabilities in the Mid-Ohio Valley. In February, Vienna reported levels of C8 contamination in municipal drinking water exceeding 0.1 parts per billion.

* Liabilities from 40 C8 exposure lawsuits to be tried next year. A plaintiff in one settlement this year from a federal court in Cincinnati was awarded $1.6 million.

* Accelerated government action over C8 contamination in drinking water and the effects on human health, including the EPA’s new standard for C8 contamination.

“We are aware of this press release, which is misleading and inaccurate in many respects,” a statement from the company said. “Given the many inaccuracies and purported broad scope of this press release, we will not respond to every point. However, we do emphasize the following:”

* Chemours has never made or used PFOA. DuPont completed its phase out of PFOA in 2013.

* During the time it used PFOA, the company is confident DuPont acted reasonably and responsibly at each stage, placing high priority on the health of its employees and the community.

* DuPont has extensively studied PFOA and has worked with state and federal regulators to be protective of the communities neighboring its sites. For many years now, DuPont, and now Chemours as owner of these two sites, has been working with state and federal regulators to test and, as needed based on regulatory guidance, to treat the drinking water for the communities nearby Washington Works and Chambers Works.

* A Permanent Health Advisory has not been issued at this time. Once a Permanent Health Advisory is issued, the company will work closely with regulators on any additional testing or filtration that may be required.

* Chemours has always worked closely with the U.S. EPA and local regulators and will continue to do so.

* Chemours believes DuPont took appropriate measures in using and handling PFOA in Dordrecht with safety and health first. One government report requests further study with focus that a past emission may have exceeded a recently enacted threshold. A second government study announced there was no health concern in the community surrounding the site and no reason for further investigation. At the request of government regulators, Chemours has agreed to provide blood testing to its employees and retirees. Chemours has always worked closely with regulators and will continue to do so.

* The Shimizu site is part of a joint venture created decades ago by DuPont and Mitsui and voluntarily ceased use of C8 in 2013.

* The area around the Shimizu site is highly industrialized and the groundwater is brackish and not a source of drinking water.

* Many companies have used PFOA for decades and some companies outside the U.S. still use it.

* DuPont and Chemours remain committed to continuing to fulfill all of their environmental and legal obligations in accordance with existing local, state and federal regulatory guidelines. As stated in its public filings, Chemours’ relationship to DuPont regarding these potential liabilities is one of indemnity. Chemours is subject to or required under the separation agreements executed prior to the spin-off to indemnify DuPont against various pending legal proceedings. Chemours has never made or used PFOA.

* The company will continue to vigorously defend the multi-district litigation in Ohio federal court. The Bartlett case (the $1.6 million award to Carla Marie Bartlett, who claimed C8 in water caused her to contract kidney cancer) is proceeding on appeal.

* The agreement to provide medical monitoring is well defined by the Leach settlement. Chemours regularly reviews the information available under applicable accounting standards and will continue to do so as more information becomes available.

The issue is growing around the world and on Friday received a significant impact from a letter written by presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch from Vermont, Fleischman said. While not aimed specifically at the Mid-Ohio Valley, it nonetheless has significance for the region, Fleischman said.

“In particular, we have been urged to reform federal law to prevent dangerous chemicals from ever again being carelessly released into the air and spilled into the waters of our cities and towns, and from being used in the everyday products we use in our homes,” the letter said.

The concentration in the Vienna water remains below the 0.4 ppb provisional health advisory level from the EPA. New York, Vermont and New Hampshire, where C8 has been found in drinking water, have adopted health levels at 0.1 ppb and below and have advised residents not to drink or cook with the water.

State officials in West Virginia have said they will rely on the levels from EPA, which is expected to issue new long-term exposure levels this spring. The cities of Parkersburg and Vienna were not included in the original class action settlement because the concentrations were below 0.4 ppb.

“Testing of local residents shows elevated C8 blood serum levels which would mandate action in every other state and country where PFOA has been found in drinking water,” said Harry Deitzler, an attorney representing the clients in the C8 class action lawsuit. “Parkersburg and Vienna are the only two communities in the world where nobody seems to care that the water is toxic to some of our citizens. Apparently it does not matter here until you are the person who gets sick or dies.”

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