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A $5 billion class-action lawsuit has been filed against DuPont Co. saying the company failed to warn consumers of the dangers of a Teflon chemical. Teflon is the company’s popular nonstick cookware made using perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts, known as PFOA, or C-8.

Two Florida law firms said they were filing the suit in federal courts in eight states on behalf of 14 people who bought and used cookware with Teflon. The plaintiffs want DuPont to spend $5 billion to replace the cookware, impose a Teflon warning label and create two funds to pay for medical monitoring and more scientific research.

DuPont said “it will vigorously defend itself against the allegations raised in this lawsuit,” saying its products sold under the Teflon brand do not contain PFOA, which was verified by an independent peer reviewed study of consumer products announced in April 2005. The lawsuit charges DuPont has known for over 20 years that Teflon and the PFOA chemical it contains causes cancer in laboratory animals.

The suit is being brought against DuPont under each state’s consumer protection laws, saying the evidence showing PFOA causes cancer in laboratory animals might have the same effect in humans. A scientific review panel advised the Environmental Protection Agency the chemical is “likely” to be carcinogenic to humans, but DuPont officials disputed the draft report.

Prior to submitting its report to the EPA this month the panel agreed to include more opposing viewpoints. The EPA concluded DuPont failed to meet federal reporting requirements on PFOA between 1981 and 2001, which the company disputed in legal proceedings.

The suit was initially filed in Florida, California, New York, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, but the lawyers say it could reach other states.