DuPont Shareholders for Fair Value Calls on SEC to Investigate DuPont

    NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- In light of an ongoing federal
 criminal investigation of DuPont Co. disclosures to EPA surrounding the
 chemical PFOA, a coalition of company shareholders is asking the Securities
 and Exchange Commission to investigate whether executives at the chemical
 giant are hiding financially relevant information from investors.
     The DuPont Shareholders for Fair Value (DSFV) coalition is also calling on
 the SEC to compel company executives to disclose data that would forewarn
 investors about potentially costly health, safety and legal liabilities at
 plants that use or produce perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), the chemical that is
 the subject of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigation of
 potential health risks.
     "DuPont has an obligation to provide investors with full and honest
 disclosure about the liabilities associated with PFOA," said attorney Sanford
 Lewis, a corporate accountability expert and spokesman for the shareholder
 coalition. "Given the company's track record of secrecy on PFOA, we are asking
 the SEC to step in and compel the company to release data investors have a
 right to know."
     The U.S. Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section last week
 served DuPont with a grand jury subpoena demanding that it turn over documents
 related to PFOA. The price of DuPont stock fell 2.2 percent from prior to the
 announcement of the subpoena on Thursday till the market close on Friday.
     A year ago, the EPA accused DuPont of failing to report information over
 two decades about risks that PFOA potentially causes to humans and the
 environment. DuPont recently said it has set aside $15 million based on a
 settlement agreement in principle on EPA's civil claims, but final settlement
 of the civil claims may take at least five months.  In February, DuPont agreed
 to pay $108 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by West Virginia and Ohio
 residents who claimed PFOA contaminated their water supplies from DuPont's
 Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, W.Va.  The $108 million settlement may
 not be the end of the company's liability in that matter, as the settlement
 also leaves open the possibility of additional costs for medical monitoring or
 personal injuries.
     In letters to SEC enforcement chief Linda Thomsen and Alan L. Beller, head
 of the corporation finance section, the DSFV:
      - Asked the SEC to compel the company to disclose to investors an array
        of data, including health and safety testing, about potential
        liabilities at DuPont facilities that use or produce PFOA.
      - Sought clarification about when a company's assertions that its
        products do not harm human health may constitute illegal and
        "materially misleading communications" to shareholders when there is
        credible evidence to the contrary.
      - Raised questions about DuPont's failure to disclose in shareholder
        reports information about emerging trends that restrict markets for
        products containing PFOA. Such information would include a recent ban
        in Canada of three perfluorinated compounds, and government reviews of
        PFOA in Europe and Australia that could lead to regulatory
        restrictions.
 
     "In the past, DuPont denied in its SEC filings that the fungicide Benlate
 caused any harm, even after being hit with numerous property and business
 damage lawsuits," Lewis said. "The Benlate issue has so far cost the company
 about $1.9 billion to fight or settle the lawsuits. We fear that the company
 could be repeating this pattern with PFOA."
     In April, DSFV sponsored a shareholder resolution calling on the company
 to reveal attorney fees, expert fees, lobbying, public relations and other
 hidden costs associated with PFOA. Company officials opposed the resolution.
 The DSFV also commissioned a study by Lewis that examined DuPont disclosure
 activities and shareholders' rights to information. The study anticipated that
 company executives' failure to keep investors duly informed of liabilities
 could have a dramatic impact on DuPont's bottom-line.
     The DSFV coalition owns more than 28,700 shares of DuPont Co. stock.
 Members include the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers
 International Union (PACE), the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), the
 Sisters of Mercy Merion Regional Community in Merion, Pa., and Green Century
 Capital Management of Boston.  In April 2005, PACE and the USWA merged to form
 the United Steelworkers (USW), the largest industrial union in North America.
     For copies of the letter to SEC officials and further information about
 the DuPont Shareholders for Fair Value coalition, go
 to http://www.dupontshareholdersalert.org
 
 

SOURCE  DuPont Shareholders for Fair Value