DuPont

According to http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic ethics is defined as “rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad.” The New York Times published an article titled The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare. DuPont was established in 1802 and has continued to grow and contribute to solving global challenges ever sense opening its doors. However, when people living in close proximity to DuPont plants started getting sick, one man living in the area decided to seek help. Wilbur Tennant owns a cattle farm in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Tennant started to notice that there was something wrong with his cattle, they were getting very sick. Tennant believed that it had something to do with the water and specifically the chemicals that DuPont was releasing into the water. When Tennant sought help, the people within the community were not there in support. Tennant states, “One hundred fifty-three of these animals I’ve lost on this farm.” Rob Billot a partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister decided to take on this case, not knowing what it would lead to.

In class we discussed the number of ethics that are seen and also violated within the DuPont case. The ethics seen within this case vary, by those who are in power. The levels discussed were personal, the community, professionals, and ethics at the corporate level, and also federal and state. There are many reasons in which the DuPont case has violated the issues of ethics within the community. One being that DuPont was aware of the chemical: perfluoroctanoic acid commonly known as C8 that was being dumped in the water. C8 is used in the manufacturing of Teflon. This issue is violating the first level of ethics which is personal. The problem is that DuPont knew that the chemical was in the water but kept this information disclosed from the community.  Therefore, the community was unaware of the health effects that C8 could have on them. DuPont had kept this information from the public and knew all along the health effects that it could cause. The ethics of this is on the personal level because they knew the toxicity of the chemical being released into the water and the possible effects that it could have on pregnant women, and the defects that it could cause their unborn children. The company kept this information for years and continued the same cycle instead of fixing it immediately. This was not only unethical of DuPont but also very irresponsible of the company to try and cover up what they were doing.  

 According to the article The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare it is stated that “DuPont scientists determined an internal safety limit for PFOA concentration in drinking water: one part per billion.” However, DuPont found that water in one local district contained PFOA levels at three times that figure. High exposure levels of PFOA, has been linked to prostate cancer.  One specific example of DuPont’s effects on the community all started with Wilbur Tennant. Tennant owned a cattle farm and due to the PFOA in the water the cattle started dying off.  Tennant found a lawyer who would take on his case, and that is when Billot started digging into DuPont’s past. This level of ethics is community, because DuPont supported the community by providing people within the area jobs. DuPont funded the livelihood of many people within the area. Many of the people within the community did not support the case and stopped talking to Tennant because they did not want to risk losing their jobs with the company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html?_r=0'

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/18/first-test-case-against-dupont-begins-in-ohio-fede/