LEED Report - Environment & Human Health, Inc.

The Green Building Debatesecrecy led to civil administrative actions by EPA against DuPont in 2004and 2005, leading to a settlement with DuPont for the largest civiladministrative penalty EPA has ever obtained under any federalenvironmental statute. 42Despite decades ofresearch and globalconcern about healthrisks associated withPFOA, and its widespreadpresence in both humansand animals, noenforceable healthstandards exist.Despite decades of research and global concern about health risksassociated with PFOA, and its widespread presence in both humans andanimals, no enforceable health standards exist. The only federalregulation governing PFOA exposure is a provisional drinking wateradvisory. Hundreds of PFOA-related chemicals that may degrade toPFOA are also not regulated in the United States. 43Although EPA has released several draft hazard assessments and riskassessments for PFOA in the last nine years, none of them have beenfinalized. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)publicly stated years ago that it was working on an evaluation of healthrisks—including risks associated with PFOA contamination of humanbreast milk, arising from PFOA-contaminated drinking water—but noreport has been released. 44The EPA’s PFOA Stewardship Program proscribes PFOAs from emissionsand products by 2015. While DuPont announced its intent to end theproduction and use of PFOA by 2015, it has not declared an intent toend the production or use of fluorotelomers.The company’s reports to EPA on current production are kept secret asconfidential business information, so current production is a mystery tocurious consumers. Fluorotelomer-based carpet coating products arereported to be widely used in Dalton, Georgia, the carpet production“capital” of the United States. Carpets are dipped in vats of stain repellentscontaining chemicals that may contain or break down into PFOA. 45Buildings that use carpets that do not contain PFOAs receive no bonuspoints from LEED, and the Green Building Council has published no36