The DuPont Company is North America's sole PFOA manufacturer. The chemical is used to make the company's Teflon brands.

By April of 2003, the PFOA controversy was proving troublesome for the chemical company. High levels of PFOA were turning up in the drinking water near DuPont's West Virginia plant. Residents there sued the company. The EPA was also scrutinizing PFOA.

To help DuPont in the face of these challenges, Terrance Gaffney offered up lobbyists, lawyers, and scientists to consult for the chemical company. At the time, Gaffney was a vice President for the Washington DC based Weinberg Group. In April of 2003, he wrote a letter to DuPont that April, outlining a plan of action.

The Weinberg Group, Gaffney wrote, would help DuPont shape the debate at all times in aggressive fashion. And, Gaffney wrote, Weinberg had scientists on staff, able to reshape the debate on PFOA, by identifying health benefits of the chemical. These scientific experts, Gaffney wrote, would help create the outcome DuPont wanted.

The Weinberg Group is currently under Congressional Investigation for an unrelated study. The consulting firm would not comment.

For EPA administration critics, this memo is evidence of a plan to manufacture science. David Michaels wrote the book Doubt is Their Product, and the George Washington University School of Public Health professor says this is the company's "sales pitch."

According to Michaels, manufactured science is a very lucrative business.

"These scientists create studies knowing what answers they are going to find, and these studies always exonerate the toxic chemical involved or the chemical involved. There's been an unfortunate development. The product defense industry has emerged, and these are consultants and scientists who know how to produce science, or data that looks like science, to influence regulation or court cases."

DuPont hired the Weinberg Group, and, ultimately the company settled the West Virginia water case.