How Teflon Poisoned The Environment And Harms Most Americans

Founded in 1802 by French-American chemist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, DuPont began as a gunpowder manufacturer on the Brandywine Creek in Delaware . Over the 19th century, it became the largest gunpowder supplier to the U.S. military, including the Union Army during the Civil War . By the early 20th century, DuPont diversified into synthetic materials—neoprene, nylon, and Lycra—cementing its reputation as a leader in industrial chemistry .

The Accidental Discovery of Teflon

On April 6, 1938, Dr. Roy J. Plunkett, experimenting with tetrafluoroethylene gas for refrigerants at DuPont’s Jackson Laboratory, found a cylinder filled not with gas but a white, slippery substance—polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), later branded Teflon . Initially used in military seats and gaskets during World War II, Teflon’s heat resistance and low friction led to its 1950s debut on non‑stick cookware, marketed as a revolution in home cooking .

Unveiling the Toxic Enabler: PFOA

Teflon production relied on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, or C8), a highly persistent surfactant. Internal DuPont documents from 1961 show company toxicologists warned that PFOA caused liver enlargement in rats and rabbits . By 1973, DuPont research concluded there was no safe exposure level in animals, and by 1978 3M reported PFOA accumulating in human blood . DuPont even conducted human exposure tests—volunteers smoking PFOA‑laced cigarettes developed polymer fume fever—yet the company prioritized production growth to meet a billion‑dollar annual revenue target by the 1990s

Environmental Catastrophe in Parkersburg

DuPont’s Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, dumped over 7,100 tons of PFOA‑laced sludge into unlined “digestion ponds” throughout the 1980s, from which the chemical leached into groundwater and the Ohio River . This contamination affected over 100,000 people in Parkersburg and neighboring communities, leading to PFOA traces in local drinking water and the food chain—reflected by elevated PFOA levels in the blood of 99.7% of Americans by the 2000s.

Legal Reckoning and Public Awareness

A farmer named Wilbur Tennant—whose cattle suffered bloated organs, tumors, and mass die‑offs in the late 1990s—brought the crisis to light. Environmental lawyer Rob Bilott sued DuPont in 1999, uncovering evidence of PFOA studies and undisclosed dumping into a landfill uphill from Tennant’s farm . In 2001, DuPont settled Tennant’s suit, and in 2005 the company agreed to a $16.5 million settlement with the EPA.

The effects on the human body

C8, or perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), has had profound and lasting effects on human health due to its persistence in the body and environment. Once absorbed, it accumulates in the bloodstream and organs over time, resisting natural breakdown processes. Scientific studies have linked C8 exposure to a range of serious health conditions, including kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol, and pregnancy-induced hypertension. Even at low levels, prolonged exposure has been shown to disrupt hormone function and immune responses. Perhaps most troubling is its ability to cross the placental barrier, potentially affecting fetal development and increasing the risk of birth defects. The fact that 99.7% of Americans carry detectable levels of C8 in their blood underscores the chemical’s widespread infiltration and the silent, systemic risk it poses to public health.

C8 to GenX

In 2015, DuPont separated its performance chemicals division, creating a new company called Chemours. PFOA was replaced by GenX , a “short-chain” PFAS that had been developed since 2009 and marketed by Chemours as a “safer” alternative. Emerging studies and recent EPA advisories in 2022 indicate that GenX is similarly persistent and potentially even more toxic. As a result, new water quality regulations and community lawsuits have emerged concerning GenX pollution in North Carolina’s Cape Fear River.