Few people know it, but DuPont has a long history of exposing workers and customers to toxic substances, then denying that such substances harm their health. In the mid 20th century, for example, DuPont was one of the many industrial chemical producers involved in the production of lead products such as leaded gasoline. Lead was thought to be a "miracle" element with great potential for industrial use. But as DuPont workers started losing their minds to lead poisoning, the company denied everything and kept on pushing lead-based
products to the market while releasing
lead into the environment. (
Click here to read a summary of this.)
Now DuPont insist that Teflon is perfectly safe, too, even though the EPA now charges the corporation with being in violation of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act by failing to report the toxicity of Teflon for two decades.
The EPA is now accusing DuPont of causing, "substantial risk of injury to human health or the environment" and looks likely to seek large fines from the company. The chemicals used in Teflon have been linked to birth defects in DuPont employees and are well known to kill household parrots thanks to the offgassing of toxic chemicals during cooking.
But it is possible that such chemicals are only a major risk during manufacturing or when non-stick cookware is heated to extremely high temperatures. Non-stick cookware may, in fact, be relatively safe when used intelligently and kept below 600 degrees. But I wouldn't take DuPont's word for it. And failure to report such dangers to the EPA is clearly a public safety violation.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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Wednesday, July 21, 2004
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