The Lawyer Who Became Dupont's Worst Nightmare

"Rob Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years. Then he took on an environmental suit that would upend his entire career — and expose a brazen, decades-long history of chemical pollution."

By NATHANIEL RICH, New York Times, Jan. 6, 2016

Another in-depth report in the tradition of Steven Brill's brilliant account of America's Most Admired Lawbreaker, Nathaniel Rich paints a riveting portrait and account of corporate attorney Rob Bilott taking the case of a cattle farmer who called about his cows mysteriously dying. Years of digging let to discovery of the cause: wide scale poisoning from PFOA-tainted water from DuPont's landfill from Teflon production. Long after DuPont learned of PFOA's health hazards, they buried the data and denied the links - and the responsibility. Federal, state and local regulators repeatedly sided with DuPont's claims of safety over citizens' and scientists' claims of harm. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is now recognized by EPA as a health risk. 

"STATES OF UNCERTAINTY

No one knows for certain how much PFOA is safe to drink. Rob Bilott’s lawsuit against DuPont in West Virginia included anyone whose drinking water had levels above 0.05 parts per billion. But last June, based on a comprehensive review of previous health studies, Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard School of Public Health and Richard Clapp of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell named an ‘‘approximate’’ safe level of 0.001 p.p.b. Soon thereafter, the nonprofit Environmental Working Group analyzed two years of E.P.A. survey data to find that this threshold had been exceeded — in some cases by factors of 100 or more — in 94 water systems across 27 states."

A series of lawsuits have begun against DuPont for PFOA poisoning. The article states that there are 60,000 unregulated chemicals in the United States. 

Read it here: The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare

NOW WE LAG NEPAL! Health experts stress Mercury-free dental fillings

 

•     
•     
•     
•     

Post Report

0

Health experts stress Mercury-free dental fillings

KATHMANDU, MAY 27 - Public health experts have drawn the attention of the concerned authorities and public over the use of amalgam (mercury) in dental fillings, warning that it causes negative health effects including immunological, neurological and psychological problems among the people.

Organising a two-day national workshop on Mercury Free Dentistry that started from Monday, the Centre for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED) along with Nepal Dental Association are planning to raise awareness among concerned dental institutions, professionals and people in general regarding the harmful impact of amalgam dental fillings on an individual’s health and promote mercury-free dentistry.

Even though Nepal is signatory to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a legally binding treaty agreed by the world to prevent use of mercury containing products by 2020 to protect human lives and the environment from mercury pollution, and is working on a long-term action plan to phase out production, export and import of a range of mercury containing products and equipments such as thermometers, increasing use of mercury in dentistry is posing serious health risks to patients, says Ram Charitra Sah, Executive Director at CEPHED.

Dental amalgam, a combination of mercury with other metals like copper and silver, has been used for over 150 years for the treatment of tooth cavities and decay.

However, amid widespread health concerns on the use of amalgam fillings in dentistry, Western countries such as Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden have either totally banned or discouraged mercury fillings, especially for children and pregnant women.

“We need to also work on a regulatory framework and our plan to phase out amalgam in dental fillings should be our top public health priority. Nepal should work to address the possible public health and environmental implications from the increased and continuous use of amalgam dental fillings in the dental health care system of Nepal,” Sah added.

Posted on: 2014-05-27 08:48