The Price of Bright White The quest to make things look pure sparkling white is causing some of the worst pollution in the United States, and bringing about illness and death in the process. DuPont uses a chlorine-based process to produce titanium dioxide, a whitening agent that has cosmetic value alone. Titanium dioxide is used as a whitening agent in foods, paper, paints, toothpaste, baby diapers, PVC pipes and siding, and other products. The waste from this manufacturing process includes large quantities of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds.
Poison for people As shown in the Sierra Club Chronicles program Dioxin, Duplicity & DuPont, dioxin exposure leads to cancer, birth defects, diabetes, liver and heart diseases, endometriosis and skin problems. Dioxin has caused many deaths. Dioxins and furans are some of the most toxic chemicals known to science. Serious damage comes from a very small exposure level, equivalent to spitting into an Olympic-size swimming pool. The dioxins produced by DuPont have serious implications for people all over the country, not just those living near facilities. The EPA estimates that the average U.S. resident is now over-exposed to dioxin-like compounds. Furthermore, EPA concludes that the most highly exposed individuals are those who live in the vicinity of a source facility; DuPont DeLisle is one of the top source facilities in the country. Dioxins have tremendous longevity in the environment and in living tissues, including human bodies. Dioxins have a half-life (the time it takes for half of it to be lost) in humans of about 10 years and dioxin in soils or sediments can remain there for upwards of 100 years. Dioxins dissolve in body fats and are retained by humans and animals, causing health problems over very long periods and throughout the body. Small amounts in the environment will be concentrated at high levels in humans. Dioxins in animal tissues are released into the blood stream and circulate to other tissues where the effects can be exerted over time. A single dose of dioxin given to pregnant rats has been shown to cause abnormalities in the male offspring.
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