Word: duponts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...amazingly slippery, heat-resistant plastic known as Teflon was discovered purely by accident by DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett in 1938. By 1950, the company was making a million pounds annually as a low-friction coating for bearings and gears. In 1960 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for use in cookware. Today some 60% of all pots and pans in American kitchens are nonstick--to say nothing of muffin pans, cookie sheets, cake pans, deep fryers and waffle irons...
Unfortunately, it turns out that when Teflon is heated to over 600°, the coating can break down and release a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. The fumes can be fatal to pet birds. In humans, DuPont acknowledges, they can cause a reversible flulike condition called polymer-fume fever, first noted in the company's labs. In animals, though, PFOA can cause cancer, immune-system damage and death. And about 95% of all Americans have traces of PFOA in their blood...
...study has proved that cooking with Teflon is harmful to humans. But DuPont paid $107.6 million in 2004 to settle a lawsuit brought by some 50,000 people who lived along the Ohio River near its West Virginia plant. They claimed PFOA contamination had caused birth defects and other health problems. The company admitted no liability but in December 2005 made a settlement with the EPA based on eight violations for failing to disclose its own findings on the safety of PFOA. This April, hearings began in a class action against the company by nonstick-cookware users from 15 states...
...increase in faculty salaries.12/8: Students and staff of Harvard’s AFROTC bitterly criticized the Air Force yesterday for its decision to disband the unit in 1957.12/13: $4.5M from the Ford Foundation will be used to raise faculty salaries. Four days later, a DuPont donation of $30,000 to the University is made for graduate education fellowships and chemistry research.12/19: The divinity school initiates second phase of a fundraising drive with $4M, receives $500,000 in a Sealantic grant. A day later, Harvard’s formula for determining financial need goes into nation-wide operation.2/1: Mark...
...foot or by bus—there’s no subway in gentrified G-town, but the Metro’s new Circulator express bus takes you right to Wisconsin Ave. and M St. for $1.00, or try the Georgetown Metro Connection bus from the Foggy Bottom or Dupont Circle Metro stops, also a buck...