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Your couch, carpet, pots and pans, food, and even your clothing may contain a household chemical called PFOA that has been linked to an increased risk of thyroid disease. The research, which was conducted at University of Exeter and Peninsula Medical School, is the first major study to investigate the effect of PFOA on health. PFOA stands for perfluorooctanoic acid, a substance perhaps most known for its use on nonstick cookware. Manufacturers use PFOA to make fluoropolymers, which are turned into flame retardants for furniture, stain protection treatment for carpeting, greaseproof wrappers for food, waterproof clothing such as Gore-Tex, and...

Fletcher said the study and other studies show an association between exposure to PFOA and PFOS and delays in puberty in girls by about four months and between exposure to PFOS and a six-month delay for puberty in boys.

Dear Patriot, Our opponent thinks his campaign is Saturday Night Live. Last Thursday, he brought former SNL writer Al Franken, aka Senator Stuart Smalley, to Delaware so they could hit the campaign trail together. It looks as if they wrote some jokes together because in his new TV ad, our opponent says that he will bring “new responsible leadership to Washington.” Even fellow NBC employees Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann are in on the joke, they love our opponent. We don’t know if you’ve seen Saturday Night Live lately but since they poke fun at Christine, turnabout is fair play....

The U.S. Environment Protection Agency set off a warning bell when it released a preliminary assessment of the health risks associated to a Teflon-related chemical found in consumer products from Teflon pans and Gore-Tex jackets to water-resistant carpets.

ASSOCIATED PRESS BALTIMORE -- A suspected carcinogen used to make Teflon was found in nearly all the umbilical cord blood samples tested by researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The researchers are now trying to determine whether it has harmed the newborns. Of the 300 newborns tested, perfluorooctanoic acid, was found in the cord blood of 298. "It's very clear that PFOA is being released into the environment, and it's pretty much ubiquitous. But we don't know if it's toxic to people at these levels," said Dr. Lynn Goldman, one of the Hopkins researchers. A review panel advising the federal Environmental...

Only in America: today, a group of Florida attorneys filed a $5 billion class action suit against DuPont claiming that the company has for decades failed to notify consumers of the health risks posed by "Teflon chemicals." The plaintiffs want DuPont to spend $5 billion to replace the cookware that is allegedly dangerous and provide medical monitoring for the plaintiffs who used the cookware. The suit also demands that Teflon-coated products in the future carry health warning labels. The suit charges that the "Teflon chemical" PFOA is a" carcinogen" -- defined here as a chemical that causes cancer in rodents....

Teflon, and the products that contain PFOA, are everywhere — from pots and pans, to Gore-Tex jackets, carpet coatings, computer chips, engine fuel lines and even pizza boxes... The issue now before the EPA is whether a chemical that's become a part of everyday life is also a threat

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...

March 29, 2003 Chemical Might Pose Health Risk to Younger Women and GirlsBy JENNIFER 8. LEE common industrial chemical used to produce Teflon might pose health risks for young girls and women of childbearing age, an internal report by the Environmental Protection Agency has found. Agency scientists are concerned because the chemical, ammonium perfluorooctanoate, accumulates in human blood and demonstrates toxic properties. In September, the agency initiated a priority review under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which can be invoked to ban chemicals that pose significant risk of cancer, gene mutations or health defects. The draft report assesses current scientific...