PFOA Exposure Concerns in the Netherlands
Concerns over exposure to the controversial chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA or C8) are now washing up on European shores. Residents living near a former DuPont facility at Dordrecht in the Netherlands where the chemical was made since 1970 have begun putting pressure on the Dutch government to determine and act on their level of risk.
The Dutch National Institute for Public Health & the Environment will now seek to determine whether health problems such as those claimed in the US can be expected in people living in the direct vicinity of the Dordrecht plant, now owned by DuPont spin-off Chemours.
The institute has acknowledged that Dordrecht plant workers and nearby residents were exposed to airborne PFOA for years. Rejecting calls for drinking water tests, however, it argues, however, that in contrast to the US, this is not an issue, as Dutch water supplies are not drawn from surface water.
Exposure to the chemical used as a polymerization aid for the fluoropolymer formerly used in DuPont’s Teflon brand non-stick coating has been at talking point in the US for some time – and the subject of numerous lawsuits against the company.
Residents of the Dutch town that is home to Chemours’ largest production complex in Europe, employing more than 550 people, were unaware of the discussion until recently. In early April, an investigational report in the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad said blood tests of two local residents turned up excessive levels of PFOA. In its wake, at least 1,000 people have requested testing, according to reports.
Back in the US, problems related to PFOA exposure in drinking water supplies have not ebbed. In March, the governors of three US states, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help with additional water testing and analysis in communities exposed to PFOA.
In 2015, Chemours accepted a court-ordered award of $1.6 million to an Ohio woman, Carla Marie Bartlett, who developed kidney cancer. At least four other trials were planned to take place in 2016 if not settled out of court.
Starting in 2017, the chemical giant is expected to face an estimated 40 class action lawsuits a year related to PFOA. Most of the class participants claim to have developed cancer or other diseases from airborne exposure to PFOA or wastewater discharges from the company’s Washington Works in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
In 2006, DuPont and 3M, which also made PFOA, agreed to phase out the chemical up to the end of 2015. Chemours, which inherited the DuPont fluorochemicals business, now uses a new polymerization aid known as GenX.
