Free Republic

The Trump White House has intervened to weaken one of the few public health protections pursued by its own administration, a rule to limit the use of a toxic industrial compound in consumer products, according to communications between the White House and Environmental Protection Agency. The documents show that the White House Office of Management and Budget formally notified the EPA by email last July that it was stepping into the crafting of the rule on the compound, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used in nonstick and stain-resistant frying pans, rugs, and countless other consumer products. The White House repeatedly pressed...

Heating releases cookware chemicals Janet Raloff Nonstick coatings on fry pans and microwave-popcorn bags can, when heated, release traces of potentially toxic perfluorinated chemicals into the air and the food being cooked, a new study suggests. Although the chemicals aren't subject to any regulatory restriction and have uncertain toxicity, the researchers conducting the study suggest that people at least run kitchen-exhaust fans when using these products. A 2005 industry study found no such releases. Chemist Kurunthachalam Kannan and his New York State government team, based in Albany, performed the tests on four brands of nonstick fry pans and two brands...

The Houston Fire Department's Hazardous Materials team shut down a section of a baggage claim area at Bush Intercontinental Airport Saturday night because of smoking luggage left on a baggage carousel, officials said. It turned out to be caused by an aerosol can of cooking spray. Airport spokesman Roger Smith said late Saturday that the luggage was left behind on a baggage carousel used for Continental Flight 51, which originated in Newark, N.J., and arrived about 9 p.m. When no one picked up the bag, it was "taken to one of those offices where they take unclaimed bags," Smith said....

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...

Science plans 'non-stick' submarine US nanotechnologists are developing what they think could be the ultimate non-stick surface. The needles are just a couple of millionths of a metre apart It is covered with nano-scale needles that enable a liquid, for example, to slip straight off it. One application could be non-stick submarines, which would glide through the water with much less resistance and require less force and fuel to propel them. "If you think about submarines in a marine environment, the defence department will be very excited to hear about this," CJ Kim, an engineer at the University of California...