Slow Death by Rubber Duck Ch. 3

Slow Death by Rubber Duck Ch. 3

-Teflon (PFC, perfluorinated compounds) is everywhere and it should not be everywhere, like in drinking water or in the blood of 98 percent of Americans.

The Chemical That Lasts (Almost) Forever

-“Until recently Scotchgard contained a chemical known as perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS). But in 2000, 3M, the maker of Scotchgard, voluntarily removed this ingredient from its products when it discovered how persistent it was in the environment.”

-“It is amazingly durable, it resists other chemicals, it is fireproof and nothing sticks to it. But the very properties that make PFOA commercially desirable also cause environmental and human health concerns. Its durability, slipperiness and resistance to breakdown are a major problem. Nothing gets rid of it. Not sunlight. Not our stomach acids.”

The Tennants of Teflon Town

-In Parkersburg, West Virginia is the DuPont’s Washington Works chemical plant.  Because of their hazardous waste dumping in the area; animals got sick and died, native animals started to die, people in that area got strange diseases and cancers.  This is connected to the mass amounts of PFOA in their drinking water.

-Joe- “How is it that DuPont can set a drinking water standard itself and then tell the water utility that the water is safe?”

-People did not want to shut down DuPont, but just get answers to their questions, but “people suspected that the plant was ‘killing us and feeding us at the same time,’ but nobody could imagine DuPont gone. ‘Nobody wants that.’”

-Joe Kiger was the lead plaintiff for a class action suit against DuPont, for good reason, but received lots of scrutiny and harassment for messing with the money maker of that town.

A Discovery at the Plant

-Tests were done on the affects of PFOA, but because of the small number of people studied and low doses, it was hard to see the affects. But by putting the studies together big problems were seen, like workers who were more exposed than others were 3 times more likely to die of prostate cancer.

-Birth defects were also found in a pool of 8 women workers’ children, two of the women had children with birth defects, which was a high improbability, but because of the PFOA the same defect were found in both children, which were also found in a study of PFOA on rats.

Settlement

-“DuPont agreed to a possible $340million settlement, one of the largest environmental class action settlements known. To put this amount in context, however, it is roughly equivalent to only one-tenth of one year’s after-tax profit for DuPont, based on over $3 billion in profits and revenue of $30 billion in 2007 alone.”

-The settlement would also include scientists studying the DuPont area along with many other processes with the objective of: “The first is to determine whether there is ‘an association’ between PFOA and disease generally. The second is to find out whether there is a ‘probable link’ between PFOA in the water and disease in Parkersburg.”

Out of the Frying Pan . . .

-Teflon in non-stick pans have been known to kill pet birds when heated to a high temperature.  But PFOA producing companies claim that this is not the case at normal cooking temperatures.  But the most dangerous heating is done during the pre-heating when it might be on for too long and will emit dangerous toxins into the air.  Different studies were done to see if these dangerous emissions were or could be done during “normal cooking” procedure.

-“Even if you spend a bit more per pan, it will actually save you more money than if you buy less expensive, nonstick pans every few years after the coating has been scraped off and consumed with your scrambled eggs.”

A Sticky, Stain-Ridden Future

-“it has often been frustrating to look back and see so much intelligent analysis, developed by environmentalists for the benefit of society, be largely ignored by government and industry.”

-The complexity of all these chemicals in our drinking water and air are hard to monitor and understand.  It is even hard to observe one chemical in which it can take 50-100 years.

-“The days are numbered for PFOA and many of its PFC relatives, thanks to increased consumer, environmental and community vigilance. Despite DuPont’s claims that PFOA is safe, the company is phasing out its manufacturing, use and purchasing of the chemical by 2015.”

Off-Gassing and Us

-An experiment was done to see if spending time for two days in a freshly sprayed room of Teflon Advanced (creates non stick surfaces) would raise PFOA levels in blood.  It did not, but was suggested that it would after spending months in this kind of room, which many American do.