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Teflon

Anyone who has popped a bag of microwave popcorn, purchased a fast-food burger or eaten pizza out of a delivery box has seen the wonders of modern non-stick technology at work. But as good as these chemicals are at repelling grease, rain and moisture, the one thing they fail to do is – stay put within their products.

PFOA, the chemical used to manufacture Teflon pans and other grease or water-repelling items, seeps out of the products that contain it -- especially when hot. Where does it go? Into our food and, in far too many instances, into our bloodstream.

Though scientists disagree about how harmful this is to humans, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sufficiently concerned at this point that it has called for greater restrictions on PFOAs. Manufacturers, such as DuPont (maker of Teflon pans) and 3M (maker of Scotchgard and similar products) have responded by voluntarily agreeing to cut factory emissions of PFOAs and to phase them out completely by 2015. In fact, 3M has already found alternative means of manufacturing Scotchgard, which no longer contains PFOAs.

Studies have shown liver, developmental and reproductive problems in laboratory animals from low-dose exposures to PFOAs. The EPA has also labeled these chemicals as likely carcinogens. The EPA is particularly concerned because PFOAs persist in the environment for many years and accumulate in our bodies over time. Women of childbearing age and young children are particularly vulnerable to exposures.

While studies continue, people who are concerned about exposure to PFOA can limit their consumption of fast foods or remove fast-food items from their wrappers and eat them off of a plate to reduce the time the food is exposed to the chemicals.

For more information about this story, read the article here or visit MassLive.com.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org