Who was on watch and ultimately responsible: DuPont CEO Crawford H. Greenewalt (1948 to 1962)
In 1951, DuPont started using C8 (PFOA) in its Teflon production at the Parkersburg factory despite a 1950 3M study of mice showing that PFAS accumulated in the animals’ blood. Despite signs of C8’s toxicity, DuPont scaled up its Teflon production in the 1950s to rollout its Teflon-coated “Happy Pan” in 1961.
In 1954, DuPont employees expressed concern about C8’s “possible toxicity.” No action was taken.
In 1956, a Stanford University study finds that PFAS binds to proteins in human blood.
These are the faces of the DuPont men and women who sanctioned–encouraged–the willful harm of other life to make a profit. Despite knowing the danger posed by exposure to PFOAs of people, these DuPont CEOs chose to: 1) continue to poison the environment and people, 2) cover up their actions from authorities, and 3) fight the courts and regulators from doing the right thing when they were caught. No one went to jail. No one was fired. They just paid $$$ and shamefully kept going. This is NOT good business. This is NOT being a good person. This is gross disrespect for all life and ultimately heinous criminal behaviour deserving more meaningful prosecution than a simple fine.
References:
Fluoride Action Network Pesticide Project. “Timeline for PFOA and PFOS perfluorinated chemicals compiled by FAN’s Pesticide Project” Draft document.
Blake, Marion, Huff Post “Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia”
Gaber, Nadia, Lisa Bero, and Tracey J. Woodruff. 2023. “The Devil they Knew: Chemical Documents Analysis of Industry Influence on PFAS Science.” Ann Glob Health 89(1): 37.
Halmeriks, Koen and Irina Surdu. 2020. “Dark Waters: what DuPont scandal can teach companies about doing the right thing.” The Conversation.
Kelly, Sharon. 2016. “DuPont’s deadly deceit: The decades-long cover-up behind he “world’s most slippery material.” Salon.
Lerner, Sharon. 2015. “The Teflon Toxin: DuPont and the Chemistry of Deception.” The Intercept.
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
The Meaning of Water 