Media Sticks Poisonous Popcorn Bags to Teflon Chemical

STATS ^ | November 28, 2005 | Trevor Butterworth

[weekendwarrior]

Media Sticks Poisonous Popcorn Bags to Teflon Chemical November 28 2005 Trevor Butterworth

Activist group plays media with whistleblowing claims. Is PFOA the new Alar - or is this the worst-reported science story of the year? Errors force ABC to change story, but rest of media fall for imaginary federal safety standard, health risks

Here’s how ridiculously easy it has become to spin the press. Two weeks ago, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which has a long history of scare-mongering and releasing statistically-invalid studies, unveiled Glenn Evers, a “whistleblower” who once worked for DuPont as a chemical engineer, and who claimed the company was derelict in addressing the risk from papers coated with chemicals related to Teflon.

Here’s how ABC’s Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross originally reported the story’s lede for Good Morning America:

To prevent grease stains on fast food and pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, candy bar wrappers and hundreds of other food items, the paper is coated with a chemical that’s part of the Teflon family.

Now ABC News has learned that the Food and Drug Administration has opened an investigation into its safety, based on new information and the testimony of a DuPont Whistleblower. The reason for the new investigation, according to Ross, lies in a 1987 memo obtained by the Environmental Working Group, which apparently shows that the flurotelomer Zonyl RP was migrating from the food wrapping "at three times what the FDA allowed." (Or as the EWG claimed in their press release, Zonyl RP could contaminate food at over three times the federal safety standard).

As Evers noted, DuPont “never notified the FDA. They never said to the FDA, 'We're stopping our production of this product until we figure out what the problem is.”

[weekendwarrior]

Sorry about the bad link. Looks like someone else is on top of this as well. I didn't see this until today, but it is definitely in line with the Butterworth piece.


http://www.fumento.com/fda/zonyl.html

Media Break Rules for Green Groups
By Michael Fumento
Scripps Howard News Service, December 1, 2005


"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." But how about "Fool me always?" That's the mainstream media's relationship with self-styled "environmental" and "consumer" activist groups. And you wonder to what extent the media are being fooled – as opposed to simply repeating what they want to believe.


A current and classic incident involves the Environmental Working Group – "a savvy political animal funded by deep-pocketed foundations" as one columnist nicely put it, "engaged in aggressive eco-lobbying that belies its image as an innocuous public charity dedicated to 'educating' citizens."

Using allegedly "covered up" studies and a valiant "whistleblower" named Glenn Evers, EWG is accusing DuPont of hiding the health dangers of a member of the Teflon family called Zonyl. The chemical prevents food grease from penetrating wrappers and cardboard and staining your clothes.