Here’s the latest on DuPont, maker of Teflon:
Two Florida law firms said on Tuesday they had filed class action lawsuits against DuPont Co., charging the giant chemicals producer hid the potential health hazards of its Teflon nonstick cookware coatings.
The lawsuits, the first seeking class action status and lodged on behalf of consumers of Teflon against E.I. DuPont de Nemours Co., were filed by Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin PL and Oppenheim Pilelsky PA in federal courts in several states.
The plaintiffs are calling for DuPont to pay damages to class members, create a fund for medical monitoring of consumers who purchased products containing Teflon and put warning labels on cookware with Teflon.
“The class of potential plaintiffs could well contain almost every American that has purchased a pot or pan coated with DuPont’s nonstick coating,” plaintiff’s lawyer Alan Kluger said in a press statement.
In May, DuPont said it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section to turn over documents about perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical used to make Teflon coatings.
That came a month after DuPont agreed to settle allegations by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency that it had failed to disclose health data about PFOA for two decades. The company has set aside $15 million to cover that settlement, which has not yet been finalized.
An earlier Class Action Questions post also addressed the trouble brewing at DuPont.