A group of scientific advisers to the Environmental Protection Agency voted
unanimously Wednesday to approve a recommendation that a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon and other nonstick and stain-resistant products should be considered a likely carcinogen.
The approval by the EPA's Science Advisory Board is conditioned on minor clarifications being made to a draft report submitted by a review panel, but no major Changes will be made to the panel's findings.
The recommendations include clarifying the scope of dissent on the board panel that reviewed the EPA's draft risk assessment of perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as C-8.
Board members also agreed that the repor t should clarify why some unpublished scientific studies were considered by the panel while others weren’t and that the panels findings should not be considered the last word on perfluorooctanoic acid, but should updated as additional data become available.
Perfluorooctanoic acid is a processing aid used in the manufacture of fluoropolymers, which have many product applications including nonstick cookware. The chemical also can be a byproduct the manufacturing of fluorotelomers used in surface protection products for applications such as
stain-resistant textiles and grease-resistant food wrapping. Like the ones used on the inside of fast food wrappers so the fat won’t drain through and freak people out about their health or lack of it.
Wilmrngton, Del-based Du Pont Co owner of the Teflon brand, is the sole producer of perfluorooctanoic acid in North America.
Some members of the review panel disagreed with the majority view that perfluorooctanoic acid Should be classified as a likely carcinogen, a finding that goes beyond the EPA's own determination that there is only "suggestive evidence" from animal studies that the acid and its salts are potential human carcinogens.
Johnson, the EPA administrator, is free to accept or reject the advisory board's recommendations regarding perfluorooctanoic acid.
DuPont recently launched a huge public Relations campaign with full page ads in major print media to dispel and fears in the public that their $150.00 sauce pans were any health threat, meanwhile many LOHAS members have probably thrown out their cookware or more likely recycled it so that now the poor people have it to use. “Environmental Justice?”