DuPont Shareholders to Vote on Whether to Accelerate Phase-out of PFOA
For Immediate Release For Information contact:
Monday, April 10, 2006 Sanford Lewis, DSFV, 413-549-7333
Julie Gozan, Amalgamated Bank,
315-477-7507
At the upcoming DuPont Company (NYSE: DD) annual meeting on April 26,
shareholders will be asked to vote as to whether the board of directors should
report on options to accelerate the elimination of the controversial chemical,
perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The resolution was filed by Amalgamated Bank’s
Longview Fund.
Julie Gozan of Amalgamated Bank stated, "We are concerned that DuPont's phase
out of these chemicals is not expeditious enough to mitigate risk to shareholder
value. To our awareness, the company plans to continue using PFOA for the
foreseeable future. As shareholders, we urge management to act more decisively
to eliminate PFOA."
DuPont recently entered into a voluntary agreement with EPA to reduce
environmental emissions and product residues of PFOA over the next ten years.
Attorney Sanford Lewis, a representative of the group DuPont Shareholders for
Fair Value (DSFV), noted that “nowhere in its letter of commitment to EPA does
DuPont management agree to eliminate the use or production of PFOA on any
timeline.”
PFOA is a substance that is linked with signature DuPont products such as Teflon
cookware as well as stain and grease repellants used in food packaging, textiles
and carpets. PFOA poses an array of concerns due to persistence in the
environment and potential health impacts. DuPont is the only current US producer
of PFOA.
Major market actors such as McDonalds have already announced their intentions to
reduce their sale of PFOA-containing products. Said Amalgamated Bank’s Gozan,
“If DuPont does not provide the alternatives, competitors may fill the breach.
In addition, we believe the continued use and production of PFOA poses enormous
potential for environmental and product liabilities.”
DSFV is an informal group of DuPont shareholders that includes Amalgamated
Bank’s LongView Collective Investment Fund, the United Steelworkers union (“USW”),
Green Century Capital Management and the Sisters of Mercy, Merion Regional
Community, Merion, PA.
Additional background information including audio webcasts
of discussions with financial, legal and scientific experts is available at
dupontshareholdersalert.org
This communication is not a proxy solicitation, and neither DSFV nor Amalgamated Bank will accept any proxies. DSFV urges shareholders to vote “FOR” this stockholder proposal, Agenda Item 6 on DuPont management’s proxy.
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