Credibility Gap: Toxic Chemicals in Food Packaging and DuPont's Greenwashing

Publication Date: June 2008

Publisher: Environmental Working Group

Author(s): Olga Naidenko; Renee Sharp

Research Area: Environment

Keywords: DuPont; Teflon; PFOA

Type: Report

Abstract:

In 2006, under pressure from the U.S. EPA, DuPont and 7 other companies promised to phase out by 2015 a cancer-causing chemical called PFOA, used to make Teflon and also found in grease-resistant coatings for food packaging. In its place, the chemical industry is pushing new, supposedly “green” food package coatings.
But an investigation by Environmental Working Group (EWG) finds no evidence that the industry-touted replacement chemicals being rushed to market are safer -- and plenty of evidence that DuPont and other manufacturers are continuing a decades-long pattern of deception about the health risks of PFOA and related chemicals.