The Issue
Nonstick Chemicals
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was widely used to make non-stick cookware until it was linked to cancer, liver disease and other risks. Learn how EWG’s research helped get industry to phase it out.
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The Latest on Nonstick Chemicals
An Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) newly released draft human health risk assessment for the Teflon chemical (C-8, APFO, or PFOA) shows that the Agency has dramatically underestimated human health risks from exposures to this ubiquitous, persistent toxic chemical (EPA 2005). The Agency substantially tilts the assessment in DuPont's favor first by summarily discounting and then by outright ignoring significant scientific studies pointing to increased risks for heart attack, stroke, breast cancer, testicular cancer, and numerous other health harms. For some of the most critical health risks, such as those on the immune system, studies have yet to find a safe dose, yet EPA has excluded these effects altogether in this new assessment without explanation.
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A Critique of Community Briefings by The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection on the Hazards of Drinking Water Contaminated With C8 (perfluorooctanoic acid — PFOA)
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Question: I recently purchased school uniform shirts for my child and was horrified to find Dupont Teflon fabric protector stickers on the packaging. When I wrote to the company the agent said that there was no danger, as they did not use Scotchgard. Am I correct that Teflon is not better than Scotchgard?
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Question: I've heard nasty rumors regarding the treatment of carpet before it's sold and put into a house. I've heard that it's treated with some really bad chemicals, then rolled up and stored until sold. I'd really like to know what the carpet is treated with and what's the best thing to do.
Read MoreAn independent panel responsible for determining health effects of the Teflon chemical C-8 are disatisfied with the design of the initial study which only measured death rates among workers at the West Virginia plant. The panel has requested a new study, which will measure disease occurrence as well as death of workers at the Dupont facility. [ via : Associated Press ]
Read MoreFrom NPR's Morning Edition: Teflon may make a great plate of scrambled eggs, but it also may make for a kitchen full of toxic fumes. That is the issue behind a class action lawsuit against the maker of the non-stick coating, DuPont.
Read MoreToday, a panel of outside experts gave draft comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) saying that an indestructible, toxic chemical that pollutes nearly every American's blood is a "likely human carcinogen."
Read MoreEWG commends the professional staff and leadership at EPA for forging a stewardship agreement with major companies that will, if properly implemented, dramatically reduce, and eventually eliminate, pollution associated with the chemical known as PFOA, and related chemicals that break down to become PFOA and similar substances. These toxic chemicals pose numerous health risks, are extraordinarily persistent in the environment, and have already found their way into the blood of people worldwide, including most Americans.
Read MoreToday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will fine Teflon maker DuPont $16.5 million for two decades' worth of covering up company studies that showed it was polluting drinking water and newborn babies with an indestructible chemical that causes cancer, birth defects and other serious health problems in animals. The chemical is in the blood of over 95 percent of Americans.
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Environmental Defence Canada has released "Toxic Nation" the first Canadian BodyBurden study, with 11 participants tested for 88 chemicals, including PCBs, fire retardants, PFOS (a chemical in the same family as the Teflon chemical PFOA) and heavy metals, all of which are suspected of causing cancer, birth defects, or reproductive or hormonal harm.
Read MoreDuPont disclosed in its SEC filing last week that the company earns $1 billion per year in revenues from the Teflon chemical PFOA or C8. Those revenues could be in danger if EPA decides to regulate the toxic chemical as a result of the agency's lawsuit against DuPont for withholding information about the Teflon chemical's health effects.
Read MoreResidents near DuPont's W.Va. Washington Works plant, where the Teflon chemical PFOA is produced, are speaking out against a landfill where the company dumped the toxic chemical.
Read MoreSix West Viriginia and Ohio lawyers received the 2005 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Foundation July 26 for their work on behalf of residents drinking Teflon-contaminated water from DuPont's nearby Washington Works plant. DuPont was sued for dumping the persistent Teflon chemical into community water supplies, although the company has known of its toxicity and potential to cause human health effects for decades.
Read MoreIn the past week, activists have pressed Teflon maker DuPont to clean up its act on two fronts. Environmental groups demanded that the company monitor groundwater around its local plant, the only one in the US that makes this indestructible, cancer-causing chemical, and the steeworkers' union urged carpet and clothing retailers and fast food companies to warn consumers that their products may be coated with chemicals that break down into DuPont's toxic Teflon chemical.
Read MoreA panel comprised mostly of independent scientists advising the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found today that DuPont's Teflon chemical, PFOA, is a "likely human carcinogen."
Read MoreBusinesses that object to tough pollution standards often hold communities or states hostage by threatening to take their jobs and move. Now the shoe is on the other foot in West Virginia, where a frozen-foods company refused to bring its plant to the town of Parkersburg, where the water is contaminated with the Teflon chemical C8.
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In the latest study of toxic chemicals in people, the BBC reports that seven British TV personalities were tested for 104 industrial compounds in their blood. All were contaminated with toxins, and one had 30 different chemicals in her sysem. Scientists tested for commonly found chemicals including banned pesticides like DDT, flame retardants and the PFOA chemical found in Teflon and other nonstick pans and stain repellents.
Read MoreThe penalty DuPont will reportedly pay for covering up its pollution of newborn American babies with the cancer-causing Teflon chemical will likely be $15 million. This sum amounts to just 8 percent of the maximum allowable fine.
Read MoreDuPont Corp. has agreed to pay a settlement of over $100 million to residents of Parkersburg, WV, after knowingly contaminating their drinking water with PFOA, a toxic chemical used to make Teflon.
Read MoreEWG today criticized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) draft risk assessment on the toxic Teflon chemical, PFOA, as a post-election tilt toward DuPont. The Agency ignored its own science panel's guidance and internal industry research with today's assessment of the human health risks from the Teflon chemical. (Read EWG analysis)
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