Toxin: EPA Urges Teflon Chemical Ban

[Guest guest]

Hi! I think this ban is overdue. ~P.J.

 

EPA Urges Teflon Chemical Ban: DuPont Agrees to Phase-Out of

Worrisome Pollutant PFOA By Daniel DeNoon

WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD

 

Jan. 27, 2006 - Chemical industry leaders have agreed to an EPA plan

to phase out a chemical used to make Teflon, microwave popcorn bags,

waterproof clothing, and many other products.

 

The chemical, PFOA (also known as C8), is a man-made chemical that

persists in the environment. When it gets into the body, it stays

there for a very long time. And it has somehow gotten into the

bodies of nearly everyone on earth.

 

Most experts don't think it's hurting us -- yet. Factory workers

exposed to relatively high levels of PFOA don't seem to have

particularly severe health problems. But animal studies strongly

suggest that when enough PFOA builds up in the body, it can cause

cancer, liver damage, growth defects, immune-system damage, and

death.

 

This week, the EPA announced a voluntary " PFOA stewardship " program

asking the eight companies that make PFOA to stop. The program would

reduce the use of PFOA by 95% by 2010. It would eliminate production

of the chemical by 2015 at the latest.

 

That's good, because it takes the body 10 years to eliminate PFOA

from the body -- if there's no new exposure. And since the chemical

is all over the earth, we're always getting new exposures. Stopping

production means that we won't be exposed to increasing amounts of

PFOA.

 

" Our risk assessment work is still under way and additional studies

are in progress -- but we're not waiting for final answers, " EPA

spokeswoman Enesta Jones tells WebMD. " This stewardship program

takes immediate steps to ensure that people are not exposed to

increasing amounts of PFOA as time goes on. "

 

Teflon maker DuPont already has signed on to the plan. A chemical

very similar to PFOA, called PFOS, was used by 3M Corp. to make

Scotchgard and other products. In May 2000, after negotiations with

EPA, 3M phased out PFOS use.

 

The nonprofit Environmental Working Group has been trying for years

to get PFOA banned. The watchdog group praises the DuPont and 3M

actions. Toxicologist Tim Kropp, PhD, is a senior scientist with

Environmental Working Group.

 

" The EPA stewardship program is a really good framework for phasing

out chemicals that have caused a very large public health problem in

the U.S., " Kropp tells WebMD. " It is going to phase out PFOA and any

compound that breaks down into PFOA, whether as an emission from a

factory or the breakdown of things in consumer products. "

 

Phasing out PFOAs doesn't mean that we'll have to give up having

nonstick pans or waterproof clothing. Smaller molecules that don't

stick in the body can work just as well as PFOAs. Kropp says 3M

switched to these safer chemicals five years ago.

 

What About My Nonstick Pans?

 

Kropp says nonstick pans, when overheated, give off fumes that kill

birds. He's quick to add that birds -- such as the canaries once

used in coal mines -- are extremely sensitive to toxic substances.

And he's just as quick to add that Teflon and other nonstick pans

aren't major sources of PFOA.

 

PFOA is used to make nonstick pans. But nearly all of it burns off

during manufacture.

 

" When making gravy, a cook might use vodka to deglaze a pan, " Kropp

says. " But there's no alcohol in the gravy -- all the alcohol burns

off. That is almost how nonstick pans are made. The little molecules

evaporate off and aren't in the pan anymore. "

 

That's true, says Mary Dominiak, the coordinator for the EPA's PFOA

investigation.

 

" We do not expect to see significant PFOA in something like a frying

pan, " Dominiak told WebMD last year.

 

Robert Rickard, PhD, DuPont's chief toxicologist, stresses this

point.

 

" With pots and pans, there is no exposure to PFOA, " he told WebMD

last year. " That is based on studies we have conducted, and also on

studies in Denmark and in China. There is absolutely not a consumer

issue with this. "

 

Microwave Popcorn a Different Story?

 

What about all those other products that use PFOA? Kropp says that

french fry boxes and microwave popcorn bags are coated with a film

rich in PFOA. And he says PFOA " precursors " -- chemicals that turn

into PFOA -- get eaten along with microwave popcorn.

 

But Susan Hazen, acting assistant administrator for the EPA's Office

of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, says there's no

evidence that consumer products are poisoning people with PFOAs.

 

" The information that we have available does not indicate that the

routine use of household products poses a concern, " Hazen tells

WebMD in an email interview. " At the present time, EPA does not

believe there is any reason for consumers to stop using products

because of concerns about PFOA. "

 

Kropp wishes the EPA could be even more help to consumers.

 

What it all comes down to is what is the consumer exposed to, and

what can they do, " he says. " And while consumers can do some things -

- like microwave regular popcorn in a plain brown bag -- they can't

do others. You shouldn't have to have a PhD in toxicology to buy a

pair of pants. "

 

 

SOURCES: News release, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA web

site. News release, Environmental Working Group. Environmental

Working Group web site. News release, DuPont. DuPont web site.

Enesta Jones, press officer, EPA. Tim Kropp, PhD, toxicologist and

senior scientist, Environmental Working Group. Mary Dominiak,

coordinator, EPA's PFOA investigation, July 2005 interview. Robert

Rickard, PhD, chief toxicologist, DuPont, July 2005 interview. Susan

Hazen, acting assistant administrator, EPA's Office of Prevention,

Pesticides and Toxic Substances.