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DuPont

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Dupont
Type Public
Founded 1802
Founder(s) Eleuthère Irénée du Pont
Headquarters Delaware, USA
Industry Industrial production and manipulation of chemicals, plastics, and rubber
Products Neoprene, Nylon resins, Teflon, Delrin, Mylar, Kevlar, Nomex, Zemdrain, Corian, Tyvek, Nafion, and other industrio-chemical products

E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Company (DuPont) is a diversified global chemical, agricultural and biotechnology corporation with headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. The company also manufactures and markets consumer products and services in the areas of nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, transportation and apparel. It is one of the world's largest chemical companies, with facilities in over 70 countries. [1].

Dupont is the third largest chemical maker (after Dow and ExxonMobil Chemicals) in the U.S. The company operates through five divisions: automotive finishes and coatings; agrochemicals and genetically modified (GMO) seeds; electronics (LCDs, sensors, and fluorochemicals); polymers and resins for packaging; and safety/security materials (under brand names like Tyvek, Kevlar and Corian). In the last decade, the company has downsized, focusing mainly on biotechnology and safety/protection. It no longer produces pharmaceuticals and is in the process of spinning off its fibers operations.

In the fiscal year ending in December of 2008, the company reported sales of 31.836 billion dollars and had 60,000 employees. [2]

Contents

Overview & history

Dupont was founded in 1802 by french chemist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours as an explosives company. Coinciding with the growing unpopularity of the chemical industry, DuPont seeks to portray itself as providing "science-based solutions" in materials used in everyday applications. See also chronological overview of DuPont. [3]

Dupont has facilities in the following countries:

  • North America - Canada, Mexico, United States
  • Latin America - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela
  • Europe, Middle East - Abu Dhabi, Albania, Austria, Belgium (België/Belgique), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia , Czech Republic, Denmark, Dubai, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany (Deutschland), Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom
  • Africa - South Africa, Zimbabwe
  • Asia-Pacific - Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam [4]

Animal testing

Dupont does animal testing.

Animals by species, numbers & locations (United States)

  • E. I. Dupont Denemours & Company Inc, Haskell Laboratory, Newark, Delaware [5]

Facility information, progress reports & USDA-APHIS reports

For copies of this facility's U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) reports, other information and links, see also Facility Reports and Information: E.I. Dupont Denemours & Company Inc., Newark, DE. [6]

Food safety issues

Global GMOs & herbicide market

The five top biotechnology companies are Monsanto, AstraZeneca, DuPont, Novartis and Aventis. They account for almost 100% of the genetically engineered seed and 60% of the global pesticide market. Thanks to recent acquisitions, they now own 23% of the commercial seed market. In 1999, almost 80% of total global transgenic acreage was planted in GMO (genetically modefied organism) soy, corn, cotton and canola. Until then, farmers could spray herbicides before planting, but not after, as herbicides would kill the intended crop. The other 20% of genetically modified acreage is planted with crops that produce pesticides. Monsanto’s "New Leaf" potato kills potato beetles, but is itself registered as a pesticide with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The five largest biotech companies in the world are also the five largest herbicide companies. GMOs ensure a continuous and ever-expanding market for their agrochemicals. [7]

Under current policy, the government provides large subsidies to farmers to produce grains, in particularly corn and soybeans. Livestock producers use corn and soy as a base for animal feed as they are protein rich and fatten up the animals. They are also cheap (due to government subsidies.) Livestock consumes 47% of the soy and 60% of the corn produced in the US. [8] See also Food and Drug Administration.

Environmental issues

In March 2002 the then West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection spokesman, Andy Gallagher, drafted a media release to inform residents in Wood County, West Virginia, that the toxic chemical C8 (also known as PFOA) was in air emissions from DuPont's Parkersburg plant. In a deposition as part of a class action suit by residents Gallagher stated that Dee Ann Staats, a toxicologist working as the departments' science adviser, insisted that all statements relating to C8 emissions were to be vetted by DuPont.

Gallagher's testimony, obtained from the federal Environment Protection Agency under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal when Gallagher issued the statement without the approval of Staats or the company, DuPont went all out to kill the release. A DuPont PR official, Dawn Jackson, contacted Ann Bradley, a lawyer with Spilman Thomas & Battle who represent DuPont. After lobbying from the company, Gallagher withdrew the media release. [9]

Air pollution

DuPont ranked number one in the Political Economy Research Institute's top 100 air polluters in the U.S. for 2002.[10]

Health & safety issues

Products

Jan. 11, 2005 - "DuPont publicists invited reporters to the company's Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg (West Virginia) for a major announcement," reported the Charleston Gazette. DuPont claimed that a new study proved "there are no known human health effects associated with exposure to PFOA," also known as C8, a chemical used in Teflon and other nonstick products. DuPont promoted the study "as having the seal of approval from ... independent experts from various universities, including John Hopkins and Yale." But those experts disagreed with DuPont's characterization of the study. Professor David Wegman emailed, "We were unanimous in believing that the results do show a health effect," pointing to "significantly elevated values" for cholesterol among workers with PFOA exposure. Wegman's email and other correspondence were made public in late 2007 as part of a lawsuit over PFOA pollution in Salem County, N.J. The independent scientists supposedly advising DuPont warned the company that "we question the basis of DuPont's public expression asserting that PFOA does not pose a risk to health." [11]

See also Teflon issues. [12]

June 2005 - Rhode Island agreed to drop DuPont from its lawsuit against former makers of lead paint. As part of the deal, which likely saved the chemical company billions, DuPont agreed to donate $9 million to the Children's Health Forum, for efforts geared to avoid childhood exposure to lead. [13]

November 2005 - Former top DuPont scientist, Glenn Evers, revealed that the company covered up that it knew of the potential adverse health effects from using a persistent chemical on grease-resistant coatings on paper food packaging. He recounted how in the mid-1960s, the company negotiated with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Working Group noted, "a weak standard for how much of the paper chemical coating, which is applied to give packaging grease or liquid resistance, could contaminate food. The FDA at the time normally required a two-year study for chemicals it wasn't familiar with, but agreed to base DuPont's approval on a 90-day test with a 1,000-fold safety factor added." [14]

"Evers explains how that standard, which remains in effect today, was based on the premise that the chemical would leave the body quickly. He explained that as a company expert, he saw that the company knew, at least by 1981, that another class of perfluorinated chemicals, such as PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), accumulates in people. It is unclear whether or not the company ever provided the FDA this information, but Evers explained how the company continued to worry about this information throughout the 1990s," noted an Environmental Working Group news release. [15]

August 2006 - the Associated Press reported that the Children's Health Forum was founded by Dr. Benjamin Hooks, a consultant hired by DuPont, "to help the company address childhood lead poisoning." The group was initially incorporated as a lobbying group, but later became a nonprofit charity. Most of the money raised by the group has come from DuPont. Several board members have ties to DuPont; executive director Olivia Morgan works for the PR firm Dewey Square Group, which counts DuPont among its clients. Yet, the Children's Health Forum group claimed to act independently of DuPont.

Clean government activists said that DuPont's settlement should have gone to the state. "The fact that DuPont now is going to have such control over this process does not sound right," said Robert Arruda of the Rhode Island group Operation Clean Government. [16]

Toxic waste

August 2008 - Governor Joe Manchin III of West Virginia filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that the State Supreme Court should review a $382 million judgment against the DuPont Company, as part of the largest civil penalty ever levied against the company. A jury in Harrison County, West Virginia, ordered DuPont to pay nearly $382 million to monitor nearly 8,000 residents in the area for signs of cancer, to clean up the site and pay punitive damages for dumping toxic arsenic, cadmium and lead in the vicinities of its local plant. Various documents prove that the governor met with the vice president of DuPont and one of the company’s lawyers to discuss the appeal, as well as with the company's chairman and chief executive, Charles O. Holliday Jr., on Nov. 20, 2007, less than a month after the original verdict. Shortly before the governor filed his brief, DuPont lawyers provided his office with two draft briefs that made many of the same arguments he later used in his brief, documents show.

"It was the first time a West Virginia governor had taken such action in a case in which the state was not a party, one expert said, and Mr. Manchin’s actions angered plaintiffs, who argued that the executive branch was inappropriately pressuring the judicial branch." [17]

Employee health & safety issues

USW unveils critical report at World Safety Congress

In September of 2006, United Steelworkers' (USW) officials unveiled a report analyzing DuPont's "abominable health and safety record" at the XVIIth World Congress on Safety and Health at Work in Orlando, Florida. The report documented violations and accidents establishing a pattern of corporate denial of responsiblity. The report discussed DuPont's safety program, DuPont STOP (from which the company earns over $100 million in revenues). STOP is "based on the theory that almost all injuries are caused by workers." According to Mike Wright, head of the USW Health, Safety and Environment Department:

"In contrast, the USW has tracked data on fatality investigations for 20 years. What we almost always find when we investigate catastrophic accidents, including fatalities, is that multiple root causes related to hazards and unsafe conditions, not multiple unsafe behaviors, cause the accident."

Other key findings in the report include:

  • Violations for failure to report industrial accidents to OSHA
  • One of the "Dangerous Dozen" for putting over 9 million people at risk
  • 20 Superfund sites and thousands of sick plaintiffs
  • Number one producer of toxic dioxins in the U.S.
  • Sued by the EPA for withholding evidence showing potential harmful effects of its Teflon-chemical, C8

According to Ken Test, Chair of the USW DuPont Council:

"When it comes to worker safety and protecting the environment, DuPont, does not 'Walk the Talk'. Many of our members and retirees suffer from their exposure to dangerous chemicals that they encountered on the job during their years of loyal service. In fact, I could not think of a more inappropriate corporation to profit off the message of safety. These workers were asked to trust DuPont and now regret it." [18]

Steel workers protest DuPont safety award

USW members and others in the international labor union movement decried the safety award given by the National Safety Council (NSC) to DuPont at its yearly conference in 2006. The NSC awards and annual Green Cross to an organization that has "distinguished itself over a period of years for outstanding achievement in workplace and off-the-job safety and health programs, community service, environmental stewardship, and responsible citizenship." According to Ken Test:

"We condemn the fact that DuPont received this award, since it appears this company's actions contradict the NSC's criteria."

USW members clad in orange t-shirts, proclaimed DuPont puts "U.S. Jobs and the Environment at Risk," in a protest directly after the published report connecting health, safety violations and accidents to the DuPont STOP behavior-based safety program. USW research has shown that multiple root causes related to hazards and unsafe conditions, not multiple unsafe behaviors, cause accidents. According to DuPont worker Jim Rowe:

"We felt it was vital that members of the health and safety community understood the truth regarding DuPont's safety record. What this company sells to other corporations and what actually happens at DuPont plants are two completely different things. In fact, we have found many safety folks here at the conference have been sympathetic to our message."

The USW represents 1,800 workers at six DuPont facilities. [19]

Nanotechnology

In October of 2005, DuPont and Environmental Defense (ED) announced a "partnership" to:

"define a systematic and disciplined process that can be used to identify, manage and reduce potential health, safety and environmental risks of nano-scale materials across all lifecycle stages. This framework will then be pilot-tested on specific nano-scale materials or applications of commercial interest to DuPont." [20]

Marketing traditional products with 'Nano' label

A promotional web page on Teflon by Invista, a Koch Industries subsidiary apparently indicates otherwise.

"Teflon® works on the nano scale," it boasts. "Teflon® leather protector provides an invisible molecular barrier which lowers the critical surface tension of natural leather and suede. This protects leather and suede by repelling water and oil-based liquids as well as dry soil," the wesbite states. [21]

However, in an email to SourceWatch a DuPont toxicologist, David B. Warheit, confirmed that the Teflon leather protector is "not a nanotechnology product". [22]

See also Environmental Defense Dances With DuPont On Nanotechnology.

Finances

(U.S. dollars, unless otherwise indicated.)

Quarter Ending Jun 08 Quarter Ending Mar 08 Quarter Ending Dec 07
Revenue ($ mil.) 9,376.0 8,770.0 7,213.0
Gross Profit ($ mil.) 2,950.0 2,814.0 1,864.0
Operating Income ($ mil.) 1,603.0 1,550.0 603.0
Total Net Income ($ mil.) 1,078.0 1,191.0 545.0

See also detailed company income statement. [23]

Personel & board

Key executives

Board members

Contact

DuPont Building
1007 Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19898

Phone: 302-774-1000

Fax: 302-999-4399

Toll Free: 800-441-7515

Web address: http://www.dupont.com/

Articles & sources

SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ Company at a Glance, Dupont, accessed February 2010
  2. ↑ Company Description: E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company, Hoovers, accessed February 2010
  3. ↑ Dr. John Kenly Smith DuPont: The Enlightened Organization, DuPont, accessed February 2010
  4. ↑ Our Company: Directory of Worldwide Locations, accessed February 2010
  5. ↑ Research Facilities: E. I. Dupont Denemours & Company Inc, Haskell Laboratory, Newark, Delaware, Humane Society of the United States, accessed February 2010
  6. ↑ Facility Reports and Information: E.I. Dupont Denemours & Company Inc., Newark, DE, Stop Animal Experimentation Now!
  7. ↑ John Robbins Genetic Engineering, Part I, The Food Revolution, accessed December 2009
  8. ↑ The Issues: Corn and Soy, Sustainable Table, accessed December 2009
  9. ↑ Ken Ward Jr. DuPont lawyer edited DEP's C8 media releases, Charleston, Gazette-Mail, July 2, 2005
  10. ↑ The Toxic 100: Top Corporate Air Polluters in the United States, Political Economy Research Institute, 2002
  11. ↑ Ken Ward Jr. DuPont lawyer edited DEP's C8 media releases, Charleston, Gazette-Mail, July 2, 2005
  12. ↑ Gary Guralny, Shawn Gilchrist Teflon Issues,DuPont Solidarity Council, November 2006
  13. ↑ Michelle R. Smith Group to get $9 million in DuPont deal has close ties to company, Associated Press, August 3, 2006
  14. ↑ Elizabeth Weise Engineer: DuPont hid facts about paper coating", USA Today, November 16, 2005
  15. ↑ Former DuPont Top Expert: Company Knew, Covered Up Pollution of Americans' Blood for 18 Years , Environmental Working Group News Release, November 16, 2005.
  16. ↑ Michelle R. Smith Group to get $9 million in DuPont deal has close ties to company, Associated Press, August 3, 2006
  17. ↑ Ian Urbina Files Show Governor Intervened With Court in favor of DuPont, New York Times, August 13, 2008
  18. ↑ United Steelworkers Union Unveils Report Critical of DuPont’s Safety Record at World Safety Congress, United Steel Workers, September 20, 2005
  19. ↑ Steelworkers Protest DuPont Award at National Safety Congress, PR Newswire, September 23, 2006
  20. ↑ Sustainability in Action: Voluntary Initiatives and Partnerships, DuPont, accessed February 2010
  21. ↑ Teflon ® Leather protector: Teflon® works on the nano scale", Invista, accessed November 2005
  22. ↑ e-mail to Bob Burton from David B. Warheit, January 30, 2005
  23. ↑ E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company Income Statement, Hoovers, accessed February 2010
  24. ↑ Our Company: Meet the Executives, DuPont, accessed February 2010
  25. ↑ Board of Directors, DuPont, accessed February 2010

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