Panel links 3M chemical to cancer

A panel advising the government heightened concerns about the chemical, but 3M says there is no evidence of danger to humans.

Minneapolis Star Tribune, Dee DePass
Published February 16, 2006

A scientific advisory panel formally recommended Wednesday that the government label a 3M Co. chemical once used to make Teflon and nonstick coatings a "likely" cause of cancer in humans. The advisory panel of 16 independent scientists presented its 34-page draft report on the chemical - perfluorooctonoic acid (PFOA) - to the Environmental Protection Agency and suggested that further tests are needed to determine the exact effects of the chemical in humans. PFOA, which is highly durable, has been used for decades to make nonstick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics and other consumer products. It has raised concerns in recent years because of the discovery that it is now fairly ubiquitous in the environment. It has been found in human blood, umbilical cords, and even in the Great Lakes and Alaskan polar bears. Scientists are uncertain how the chemical has become so widely dispersed, but they note that it has been found in higher concentrations in soil and groundwater near factories where the chemical is produced and in related dump sites. 3M quit making PFOA in 2004. DuPont still uses it to make Teflon but is phasing it out. Exposure to raw PFOA -not products made with it - has been linked to liver damage and some cancers in lab animals. "The predominant ... view was that the experimental weight of evidence regarding the human carcinogenic potential of PFOA was more consistent with the agency's descriptor of `likely to be carcinogenic' as described in the EPA guidelines," the panel's draft report said. It recommended that "further analysis of bio-monitoring data from populations living near exposure sources be conducted and used to determine the margin of exposure for these highly exposed populations." Panel Chairwoman Deborah Cory-Slechta told EPA officials Wednesday that studies have indicated that PFOA is a possible "multi-gender" and "multi-site" carcinogen that affects more than one species. 3M and DuPont officials strongly disagreed with the findings. 3M insists there is no evidence that PFOA harms humans. In addition to voluntarily ceasing production of the chemical, 3M also reformulated its Scotchgard product to eliminate a related compound after 3M's studies in 2000 raised concerns about the persistence of that chemical. "The draft report falls short of being clear, logical [and] objective," argued 3M's medical director, Dr. Larry Zobel, and toxicologist John Butenhoff in a letter to the EPA's Science Advisory Board. Butenhoff complained to EPA officials Wednesday that their scientific advisers "were selective" in their research and did not review several studies that 3M and DuPont submitted. He added that the "weight of the evidence" suggests that PFOA is "unlikely" to cause cancer in humans. 3M's letter to the EPA added that its workers who have been exposed to PFOA at three times the levels seen in the general population have shown "no evidence" of elevated levels of tumors. 3M has been monitoring the blood levels of workers for PFOA levels for years and has shared its lab and worker research with EPA officials. Company spokesman Bill Nelson said "the panel has acknowledged that it did not consider important data that 3M feels is critical to the analysis of PFOA." Maplewood-based 3M began making PFOA in the 1950s and began phasing it out in 2000, ending production altogether by 2004, officials said. Lauren Sucher, spokeswoman for the Environmental Working Group, applauded the EPA's new precautions. "Most of the time the EPA follows the advice of their outside panels. ... And if the EPA follows that advice, the EPA has a lot more homework to do" about PFOA, she said. Sucher's group wants stronger EPA rules to prevent human exposure to the chemical. The time frame for a final EPA ruling is unclear. Last month, the agency asked 3M, DuPont and six other firms to reduce their use of PFOA by 95 percent through 2010 and eliminate it by 2015. 3M uses the chemical only in one German plant that has a PFOA reclamation and recycling system. 3M made PFOA in Decatur, Ala., and in Cottage Grove. The chemical has seeped into well water or soil near those plants. That has prompted lawsuits against 3M, including one filed in 2004 by two Cottage Grove residents. DuPont, which began making PFOA after 3M ceased production, was fined $10.25 million by the EPA last month and pledged to reduce its PFOA emissions by 98 percent to settle charges that the company hid information about the chemical. The EPA said DuPont had not reported that it knew as early as 1981 that PFOA residue could be transferred from a woman to her fetus. SIDEBAR: TURNING UP THE HEAT Time to stop using that Teflon frying pan? 3M and DuPont say there's no cancer risk from a 3M-invented compound used to make nonstick pans and other consumer items. Scientists advising the EPA want more study about the possible carcinogenic effects on animals directly exposed to it.