Posted on 03/16/2005 12:01:37 PM PST by NormsRevenge
DuPont and 3M, makers of Teflon and Scotchgard, will remove a key ingredient used to make nonstick and stain-resistant products that also contaminates our bodies and the global environment.
The move away from the chemical, known as PFOA, affects just a small fraction of DuPont's and 3M's business and won't take effect until the end of 2006. The compound, being studied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a potential carcinogen, will still be used in other consumer and industrial products.
"It's a small part of our sales," DuPont spokesman
R. Clifton Webb said Tuesday. "We're taking this step not because of any concerns about health, but certainly because of the perception of PFOA in the environment."
PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, is found in almost all our blood in minute concentrations, with a median exposure of near 5 ppb in the United States. A martini mixed at that concentration would have 5 drops of vermouth in a rail tank car of gin.
The compound is crucial in the manufacture of a class of extremely durable and expensive industrial plastics — electrical wires and cables, power- and chemical-plant pipe liners, even firefighting foam.
It's also necessary for such well-known brands as Teflon, Silverstone and Stainmaster. The switch applies only to plastics that get sprayed and then baked onto a product, such as Teflon cookware.
Other plastics, such as those used to make fabrics stain resistant and to coat wires and line pipes, would be unaffected.
"It's a step forward, but it's an incomplete step," said Tim Kropp, a toxicologist with Environmental Working Group, which is tracking PFOA contamination.
"They're starting to have to take this seriously ... because the EPA and the science shows it's a serious problem. It's unacceptable to have a chemical with the type of health effects (PFOA) does in more than 95 percent of people's blood."
Laboratory studies link PFOA exposure to mammary, testicular and pancreatic cancer, Kropp said, and scientists have found no dose in lab animals that doesn't suppress the immune system. DuPont notes that a study of 1,024 PFOA workers found almost no ill effects.
DuPont and 3M both say virtually all PFOA is destroyed during manufacture. Scientists do not understand how it contaminates the environment, though one hypothesis suggests that as such products break down, the chemicals revert back to PFOA.
"It signals a gradual sea-change," said Kropp said of industry's move. "But it really doesn't answer the larger global questions of how it got into everybody's blood."
I'm not sure if PFOA or some other component is responsible, but Teflon-type nonstick cookware emits fumes that kill pet birds.
Interesting point. I know I'm very careful with teflon with my birds around.
Time to stock up on scotch guard and teflon pots...
SELL EM ON EBAY BABY!!!!!
Interesting, I'll start hangin teflon coated pots outside my house to keep the pidgeons away, they sh*t all over the place!
LOL... I used to HIDE all my teflon pans/pots. We had 'tiels and parakeets AND my hubby who THINKS he cooks well.
Perception is reality, and Teflon/Scotchguard won't be worth a s__t now. Score one for Chicken Little.
Well, Chicken Little is a bird...
I guess existing nonstick cookware will go up in value now, since they'll probably replace it with cheap crap (like that foam on the space shuttle).
The poison is in the dose.
What is missing from this report? How about the dose at which measurable effects exist. Would it be bad to have 95% of people with a chemical that causes good effects?
5 drops of gin in a railroad car of vermouth? I like my martinis with a lot more bite than that. (darn bartenders have a silly spray thing now.)
Anyone else confused?
Please list all the other weird stuff you believe...lol
Other things to worry about:
Asteroid Impact, Same Sex Marriage, Massive gamma ray burst from an outside the solar system event, BSE nvCJD, SARS, Smallpox, Ebola ,Flu- (human, bird, swine, duck, chicken), Salmonella, Carbs, Fat, Protein, Terrorists, Anthrax, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Too little ozone, Too much ozone, Global warming, Global cooling, Global Warming Chaos, Pesticides, Deer ticks, Nerve gas, Dirty bombs, Haliburton, SUVs, Guns, Acid rain, Too much Rain, Too little Rain, Nuclear power, Non-nuclearpower, Nuclear war, Conventional war, Wind Turbines shredding endangered birds, Obesity, Starvation, BCS, The Yankees with A’Rod, NCAA Basketball Tournament Selections, Pit bulls, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes ,Doberman Pinschers, Chow Chows, Great Danes, St. Bernards, Akitas, green ketchup, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), Pet spiders, Yard Sale Congestion, Red King Crabs, Shadow people, Cattle mutilations, Junk Science, Supersize fries, ”Our worst fears were confirmed”, steroids in baseball, microwave popcorn, HIV, Peak Oil, Cholesterol both LDL and HDL, second hand smoke, Google Telephone Searches, backyard nuclear reactor, Nitrogen pollution, Carbon Dioxide Reported at Record Levels, Dangerous' Curry Colourings Cataracts from computers, brain tumors from cell phones, fire ants, killer bees, killer tomatoes, killer clowns the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Terrell Owens and Ron Artest, Exploding cell phones, cryptococcus gattii, methylisothiazolinone (MIT), "holiday heart," , U.S. Teens Are Among the Worst at Math, picking your teeth in public"The Hamdog.", Plastic Wrap in a Microwave, mercury, perfluorooctanoic acid ... …
So much to worry about...
how about Social security ?
Ya gotta apply high heat to 'em to get them to emit the fumes. The fumes are what kills them.
beats banning him from the kitchen lol !
does this mean we don't have to hear million momma morons,
Brady Bunch byotches, and Feinswine followers
opine about teflon coated "cop killer" bullets any more?
http://www.parrotparrot.com/birdhealth/teflon.htm
It is PTFE (another component of Teflon), not PFOA, that is toxic to birds. The problem occurs when the cookware is overheated, but the same coating is also used in some oven drip pans and surfaces of self-cleaning ovens and can produce the toxic fumes at normal-use temperatures.
Very high heat.
Solution: if you want to brown food, use stainless. If you just want to cook food, teflon is fine.
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