U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
NOTICE OF EXEMPT SOLICITATION
1. Name of the Registrant:
E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO.
2. Name of person relying on exemption:
DUPONT SHAREHOLDERS FOR FAIR VALUE
3. Address of person relying on exemption:
P.O. Box 231, Amherst, Mass. 01004
(DUPONT SHAREHOLDERS FOR FAIR VALUE LOGO)
For Immediate Release For Information Contact
April 12, 2007 Sanford Lewis 413 549-7333
Julie Gozan 315 477-7507
Shareholders Warned of DuPont"s Failure to Disclose Continuing
Financial Risks from PFOA
New Report Released in Advance of Upcoming Shareholder Vote
Wilmington, Del. According to a new report by a group of EI
DuPont de Nemours (DD) shareholders, DuPont faces escalating
financial risks despite its recent acknowledgement that it must
eventually end the use and production of the controversial
chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
Julie Gozan of Amalgamated Bank stated, "While the company has
announced that it intends to end the production and use of PFOA
by 2015, it has not provided shareholders with an assessment of
the losses the company may suffer in the marketplace by
continuing to use PFOA. In the meantime, numerous companies
and competitors are shifting to PFOA free alternatives and may
not stand by for the company"s long timetable for elimination of
PFOA in its products."
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.
Attorney Sanford Lewis, a representative of the group DuPont
Shareholders for Fair Value (DSFV), noted that, "DuPont has also
failed to disclose research showing developmental impacts on
newborn babies, new limits on PFOA contamination of drinking
water in several states and that some DuPont fluorotelomer
products may break down to PFOA in use or in the environment."
Said Amalgamated Bank's Gozan, "We believe the continued use and
production of PFOA poses enormous potential for environmental
and product liabilities."
In 2006 the Securities and Exchange Commission wrote to DuPont
management, after prompting by the group of shareholders, and
instructed the company to improve its disclosures regarding PFOA
in the 2006 Annual report. But according to DuPont Shareholders
for Fair Value(DSFV) , the company has not fulfilled the SEC
guidance. in our assessment the current disclosures fall short
of fulfilling the SEC's guidance. For instance:
- While the company has announced that it intends to end the
production and use of PFOA by 2015, it has not provided
shareholders with an assessment of the losses the company
anticipates in the marketplace by continuing to use PFOA in the
meantime. "As shown in our report, numerous companies and
competitors are shifting to PFOA free alternatives and may not
stand by for the company's long timetable for elimination of
PFOA in its products," said Sanford Lewis, author of the report.
- The company has failed to disclose in its financial reports
that some experts believe that its fluorotelomer products, which
it intends to continue to produce even after ending the use of
PFOA, may break down to PFOA in use or in the environment.
Independent scientific assessment is already underway to assess
this.
- The company did not report to shareholders on the preliminary
findings released February 2007 from Johns Hopkins University
researchers in which newborn babies who had been exposed to low
levels of PFOA in utero had decreased birth weight and head
circumference - emblematic of developmental impacts.
- The company failed to note that more restrictive thresholds
related to drinking water limits on PFOA have been recommended
by regulators in Minnesota and New Jersey, and that Minnesota is
now intent on handling PFOA contaminated sites as Superfund
sites.
DuPont shareholders will be voting on two resolutions related to
PFOA in the April 25 shareholder meeting. The first (Item 6)
requests a report on the potential for an expedited phaseout of
PFOA (supported by 29% of share owners in 2006); the second
(Item 7) asks the company to report on the costs it has
incurring relative to PFOA and Dioxin pollution.
Other threats to shareholder value identified by DSFV include:
- Market moves away from PFOA-containing products. Major
manufacturers such as Conagra (food producer) and Mohawk (carpet
manufacturer), have joined with major retailers, such as Wal-
Mart and McDonalds, to indicate their intent to seek
alternatives to products containing or breaking down to PFOA.
DuPont"s Teflon non-stick cookware products continue to receive
media scrutiny. The search for alternatives is also driving
DuPont competitors, who are bringing PFOA-free products to
market.
- Possible US, state or foreign regulatory action. On March 7,
2006, the USEPA published a Federal Register notice asserting
that it can no longer presume that long chain polymers similar
to PFOA will not present an unreasonable risk to human health
or the environment. The agency proposed withdrawing a
longstanding exemption to premanufacture notice under the Toxic
Substance Control Act for those seeking to manufacture or import
new substances of this kind.
- Potential liability related to consumer and environmental
exposures to PFOA at DuPont and other companies. More PFOA
contamination has been detected at several sites over the last
year, and a purported $5 billion class action lawsuit alleging
undisclosed health risks associated with Teflon continued to
progress.
DuPont Shareholders for Fair Value ("DSFV") is an informal group
of DuPont shareholders that includes, among others, Amalgamated
Bank"s LongView Collective Investment Fund; USW International
Union ("USW"). USW also represents approximately 1,800 DuPont
employees in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky.
This communication is not a proxy solicitation, and DSFV will
not accept any proxies. DSFV urges shareholders to vote "FOR"
this stockholder proposal on DuPont management"s proxy.
To read the entire DSFV report please go to:
www.dupontshareholdersalert.org