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Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), the main ingredient of Teflon, has been found at low levels in the blood of the general population, including in umbilical cord blood, which shows that embryos and fetuses are now exposed to PFOAs. The chief source would be from food cooked in Teflon coated pots, pans, baking dishes and cookie sheets, and to a lesser extent, from Scotchguard used to stain-proof carpets and upholstered furniture.
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And while papers written by chemists at DuPont and M3 find, quite predictably, little or no evidence of toxicity, independent authors do, and the EPA considers the health risk so high that it accuses Dupont of failing to report the health risks of Teflon.
One thing is well known. Pet birds exposed to the fumes from overheated Teflon pots or pans keel over dead.
And since PFOAs are commonly found in umbilical blood, I for one, would not want to expose an embryo or fetus, or my children, to this toxic chemical.
Again, we must always be aware of what may be a tolerable dose for an adult, is an immense dose for an embryo or fetus, and a huge dose for small children.
[UPDATE - NOV. 2005] See "TEFLON KILLED MY BABY" in these pages for the heart rending story of a full term woman whose healthy unborn baby was killed by Teflon fumes.
Original Article:
EPA Accuses DuPont of Failing to Report Health Risks of Teflon
According to EPA officials, DuPont, the country's second-largest chemical manufacturer, violated the federal Toxic Substances Control Act from June 1981 to March 2001 by not reporting health risks from exposure to the main ingredient in Teflon, its non-stick cookware coating and carpet protection product.
EPA researchers found traces of perfluorooctanoic acid, the primary chemical used in the production of Teflon, in water supplies near DuPont's West Virginia plant as well as in the bloodstream of at least one pregnant employee. While the health risks of exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid are not fully understood, researchers have linked the chemical to birth defects in the offspring of DuPont employees who worked in the production of Teflon during the 1980s.
In its own defense, DuPont officials have said that perfluorooctanoic acid does not lead to adverse human health effects, and cited the chemical formulation's approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as proof positive of its safety.
Meanwhile, EPA reports indicate that the offending chemical can linger in human fat tissue for up to four years, and that small amounts of it are found in a majority of Americans today, probably as a result of eating foods cooked on Teflon surfaces.
According to the administrative complaint filed by the EPA, DuPont should be held accountable for "multiple failures to report information…about substantial risk of injury to human health or the environment" from exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid. The EPA will likely seek millions of dollars in penalties from DuPont.
[ source: E/The Environmental Magazine - E MAGAZINE.COM - by Roddy Scheer, July 20, 2004]
[ Sources: www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/25933/newsDate/9-Jul-2004/story.htm and http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/Living/Teflon_investigation_031114-1.html ]
[UPDATE - DEC. 14, 2005] Chemical giant DuPont has agreed to pay over $10 million in fines and another $6 million for environmental projects in order to settle allegations that the company hid information about the dangers of a chemical used in the manufacturing of Teflon, the US Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday. The EPA had sued DuPont under the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act for withholding information about potential risks posed by perfluorooctanoic acid. Under the settlement which the EPA says represents the largest civil administrative fine ever collected under federal environmental laws, DuPont makes no admission of liability. DuPont still faces a federal criminal investigation of its actions in the matter.
The following is an abstract of a paper listed in the National Library of Medicine.
Mortality among employees of a perfluorooctanoic acid production plant.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been found at low levels (10 to 100 parts per billion) in sera of the general population and at higher levels in occupationally exposed workers. Although PFOA has been reported to be a promoter of rodent hepatocarcinogenesis and to alter reproductive hormones in humans and rodents, there is little information on human health effects associated with PFOA exposure. The present study examined the relationship between PFOA and mortality using a retrospective cohort mortality design. The cohort consisted of 2788 male and 749 female workers employed between 1947 and 1983 at a plant that produced PFOA. The all-causes standardized mortality ratio was .75 (95% confidence interval [CI], .56 to .99) for women and .77 (95% CI, .69 to .86) for men. Among men the cardiovascular standardized mortality rate was .68 (95% CI, .58 to .80) and the all-gastrointestinal diseases was .57 (95% CI, .29 to .99). There was no significantly increased cause-specific standardized mortality ratio for either men or women. Ten years of employment in exposed jobs was associated with a 3.3-fold increase (95% CI, 1.02 to 10.6) in prostate cancer mortality compared to no employment in PFOA production. There were only six prostate cancer deaths overall and four among the exposed workers; thus, the results must be interpreted cautiously. If prostate cancer mortality is related to PFOA, PFOA may increase prostate cancer mortality by altering reproductive hormones in male workers.
Gilliland FD, Mandel JS. Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
[Source: Journal of Occupational Medicine. 1993 Sep; 35(9):950-4. PMID: 8229349; PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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