EPA Calls for End to Releases of Chemical in Teflon Process

The voluntary effort is expected to eliminate public exposure to the widely used industrial compound. The move is hailed by activists.

Los Angeles Times, Marla Cone
Published January 26, 2006

In a rare move to phase out a widely used industrial compound, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it was asking all U.S. companies to virtually eliminate public exposure to a toxic chemical used to make Teflon cookware and thousands of other products. Although the effort is voluntary, the federal government has rarely taken such a sweeping, accelerated action against an industrial compound. The eight major companies that use it to make an array of nonstick and stain-resistant products are expected to comply, cutting releases from their plants and products by 95% over the next four years and completely soon after that. To view the rest of this article, please visit www.latimes.com. This article also ran in the following seven outlets (if no headline appears, headline is the same as above): Print: Seattle Times, "EPA asks companies to prevent release of toxic chemical in Teflon" Indianapolis Star, "Less use of Teflon chemical is urged" South Florida Sun-Sentinel, "EPA asks firms to curb use of Teflon chemical" Allentown Morning Call (Penn.), "Feds target acid used to make Teflon" Baltimore Sun, "EPA asks firms to curb use of Teflon chemical" Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), "Sticky end for toxic compound" TV: WB Los Angeles