The Case of the DuPont
Inquiry & the UWI Student
A student of the Engineering Department of the UWI St. Augustine, contacted - DuPont Methylamines for information relevant to her final year project – the design of a methylamine plant. Responding to the invitation by the website to contact them for any information, the student, requested relevant data on potential environmental hazards that could result from such a plant. Her email to DuPont, through their web enquiry service is as follows:
Good Day,
I am currently working on my final year design project in the
Department of
Chemical and Process Engineering. The project invloves the design of a
methylamine plant. I am seeking your assistance in identifying the
potential
environmental hazards associated with the construction of such a plant, in
particular the side reactions and or general emissions.
Thanking you in advance for your assistance
Yours sincerely etc.
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An Account Executive at DuPont, Barbara A. Spilka, who received this letter, then contacted her colleagues to determine whether she was at liberty to divulge this information. She therefore sent the following letter to Mr. John M. Leddy and Raymond D. Hunting.
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Barbara A Spilka on 02/05/2004 03:06:06 PM
To: John M Leddy/DuPont@DuPont, Raymond D Hunting/DuPont@DuPont
cc:
Subject: DuPont Methylamines Web Inquiry
Should I send this to a technical support person
or do we really want to
give out this sort of information. And also isn't Trinidad where the
new
Methanex is located?
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Mr. John M. Leddy, not only vehemently agreed that such information should not be divulged, but indicated that he saw Trinidad as market competition and went futher to spill his racist, bigoted views of Caribbean nationals:
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John M Leddy
02/05/2004 04:32 PM
To: Barbara A Spilka/AE/DuPont
cc: Raymond D Hunting/DuPont@DuPont
Subject: Re: DuPont Methylamines Web Inquiry
NO---you are right on. Trinidad is basic in
ammonia & I believe methanol
as well---the last thing we want to do is help them brainstorm a way to
integrate into amines!!!! Tell him to go jump in a lake--but
politely of
course. If you want , you could tell him the business sucks, the stuff
stinks to the high heavens & it is flammable, explosive &
generally nasty
& you would be doing him & his rum swilling island neighbors no
favors by
further enlighetning him on amines! Need any more advice??
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Ms Spilka followed the advice of her superiors and sent the student this 'polite' email in response:
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Subject: Re: DuPont Methylamines Web Inquiry
To: aribeca......@sta.uwi.edu,
aribe......@yahoo.com
Cc: "Barbara A Spilka" <Barbara.A.Spilka@USA.dupont.com>
From: "Barbara A Spilka" <Barbara.A.Spilka@USA.dupont.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 16:48:45 -0500
Dear Aribeca:
Thank you for your
inquiry, however the web site you contacted is a
Marketing Web Site for questions. We are unable to supply the
information
you requested, however if you would like information about our products
such as price, availability, and properties, I would be happy to
share
this information
with you.
Thank you again,
Barbara
Barbara A. Spilka
Account Representative
Dupont Chemical Solutions Enterprise
Barley Mill Plaza 23-2233
P.O. Box 80023
Wilmington, DE 19880-0023
Tel: 302-992-2964, Cell: 302-545-8428, Fax:
302-992-4094
barbara.a.spilka@usa.dupont.com
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However, unknown to her (but fortunately for us) she also forwarded the entire previous email exchange to the student as well, giving us a rare opportunity to see how many people in so called First World countries really do see us!
The student forwarded the entire exchange to relevant persons at the University, who in turn communicated with the management at DuPont. This was their response
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From: "Nick C Fanandakis"
Subject: DuPont Methylamines Inquiry
To: hfa...@uwi.tt, wa...@tstt.net.tt
Sender: "Maureen Megginson" <Maureen.Megginson@USA.dupont.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 12:33:43 -0500
Dear Dr. Farabi and Dr. Mohammed:
This is in regard to the e-mail sent to Aribeca Espinet from DuPont on
Feb. 5. Please accept my sincerest apologies and assurance that the
language and views used and expressed in no way reflect the core values of
DuPont, its leaders or employees. The e-mail contained totally
inappropriate
comments. A formal investigation into the matter was launched
immediately and all corrective and preventative actions have been taken.
If there is anything I can do personally to help matters, please feel
free to contact me by e-mail or please call at (302) 774- 1000. It
is my
hope that you will accept this apology and forward it to all those who
might
have received your comments via the internet. Unfortunately, we did
not answer Aribeca's question.
We would be more than happy to provide information "in identifying
the potential
environmental hazards associated with the construction of such a
plant." She should
receive an answer in the very near future.
Sincerely,
Nick Fanandakis
Vice President & General Manager - DuPont Chemical Solutions
Enterprise
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