News Coverage
EPA to investigate chemical found in many household items
Published April 13, 2003
Environmental Protection Agency officials announced Monday they are stepping up their scientific investigation into the safety of a key ingredient in non-stick cookware and hundreds of other consumer products.
Citing studies showing delayed sexual development and premature death in the offspring of laboratory rats fed low levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), EPA Assistant Administrator Stephen Johnson said the agency is engaged in "its most extensive scientific assessment ever undertaken on this type of chemical.''
The assessment could ultimately lead to restrictions on the use or manufacture of PFOA, but Johnson cautioned that thus far there is not enough evidence to say whether the chemical poses a health risk to the public or to warrant consumers halting their use of products containing PFOA.
Manufactured for more than 50 years, PFOA is used widely in non-stick cookware like Teflon, stain resistant carpets like Stainmaster, water resistant fabrics and hundreds of other products.
PFOA is primarily manufactured by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. DuPont stepped up its production of PFO after the other major U.S. manufacturer, the 3M Company, stopped making PFOA and a related chemical in 1999.
Studies by industry and independent scientists show about 95 percent of Americans have traces of PFOA in their blood. The chemical persists virtually forever in the environment, never breaking down.
Responding to EPA's announcement, DuPont reaffirmed its position that "there is no evidence indicating adverse health effects related to low levels of exposure to PFOA.''
"We share the EPA's desire to safeguard human health and the environment and respect the position that there are still questions to be addressed,'' Richard Angiullo, vice president and general manager for DuPont Fluoroproducts, a subsidiary, said in a press statement.
"DuPont remains confident that our use of PFOA over the past 50 years has not posed a risk to either human health or the environment and that our products are safe,'' Angiullo said. "Our confidence is based on an extensive scientific database.''
However, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based non-profit group that researches hazardous chemicals, said DuPont withheld information about the potential dangers of PFOA for more than two decades.
"This is an extremely significant regulatory initiative EPA's is starting today,'' said Richard Wiles, vice president of the working group. "There is probably more potential money on the line in this proceeding than anything they've ever done before.''
One of the key scientific uncertainties EPA is trying to resolve is how PFOA, which is not found naturally in the environment, enters the human body, Johnson said. What EPA discovers will likely affect its ultimate decision on which, if any, PFOA-containing products to restrict.
EPA will rely on DuPont, 3M and five other companies who use PFOA to produce the scientific studies need to evaluate the chemical's safety, Johnson said. The companies have signed agreements promising to cooperate.