PFOA stories

"It was a negotiating process," Evers testified. "What they did was theysaid what limit can we have that would be acceptable, and FDA said nohigher than 0.1 parts per million extractable. So that translates to apretty good safety margin for extraction."DuPont convinced the FDA that its product ZONYL RP would extract to arange of 0.1 to 0.25 parts per million, Evers said. "FDA said, 'Fine.You are certified,'" Evers said.Later, DuPont discovered that ZONYL RP was leaching more than 0.5 partsper million of C8 into food packaging, Evers said."What it meant was that we were out of compliance for that particularproduct," Evers said. "We shouldn't be selling it to the paper industry.More of the fluorochemicals product was extracting from the paper intowater than what FDA allowed."DuPont officials declined to answer specific questions about Evers'testimony.Instead, the Wilmington, Del.-based company issued a general statementthat it "does not sell any product or material into the paper industrythat has not been approved for its regulated use by the U.S. Food andDrug Administration.""DuPont products are compliant with all FDA applications and are safefor their intended uses," the statement said.An FDA spokesman could not be reached for comment on Evers' testimony.Previously, FDA officials have said that they do not believe the levelsof C8 in food packaging are a threat to public health.In July 2004, the EPA sued DuPont for allegedly hiding importantinformation about C8's potential health effects from regulators.Under federal law, DuPont could face more than $300 million in civilfines.But, DuPont and the EPA have said they have reached an "agreement inprinciple." An announcement about the settlement terms could come assoon as Nov. 23, the deadline for a key filing in the EPA's case.As part of its suit, the EPA subpoenaed from the Wood County residents'lawyers dozens of previously confidential depositions and otherdocuments about C8. The EPA has released some of those records inresponse to a Freedom of Information Act request by The CharlestonGazette. A transcript of Evers' deposition is among the records that theEPA has disclosed.