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With the recent discovery of PFOA in monitoring wells in New Jersey we have another early warning of the dangerous decline toward unsafe drinking water in the country and evidence of the faulty reasoning of a government agency that says it knows nothing about the dangers of the substance. Yet it is okay to continue using cooking utensils made from a process it is involved in.

PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) is from the manufacture of the non-stick coating, Teflon. In this case it has apparently gotten into a fresh water aquifer in New Jersey from activities associated with the making of Teflon.Perhaps we should have stuck to good old cast iron with a baked-on oil finish - the original non-stick coating. In years to come we will undoubtedly find out these non-stick coatings have leached into our systems and caused some problems.

By the EPA's own definition this is a man-made chemical so it is an oxymoron that there is an established acceptable amount that can be in water. It is also telling that it is of "particular concern" when water with this material with quantities exceeding .04 parts per billion is being consumed by women who are pregnant, and by small children. What about everyone else? Are they of less concern?

But perhaps this is the ultimate insanity. While the EPA says on the one hand:
EPA does not have any indication that the public is being exposed to PFOA through the use of Teflon-coated or other trademarked nonstick cookware. Teflon and other trademarked products are not PFOA. At the present time, EPA does not believe there is any reason for consumers to stop using any products because of concerns about PFOA.

It later notes:
EPA does not have a full understanding of how people are exposed to PFOA, which is used as an essential processing aid in the manufacture of fluoropolymers, and may also be a breakdown product of other related chemicals, called fluorinated telomers. ...In April 2003 EPA released a preliminary risk assessment for PFOA, and started a public process to identify and generate additional information to better understand the sources of PFOA and the pathways of human exposure.EPA began investigating PFOA because it is very persistent in the environment, it was being found at very low levels both in the environment and in the blood of the general U.S. population, and it caused developmental and other adverse effects in laboratory animals.

What I get from reading the EPA literature on this stuff is that the EPA doesn't have any idea how people are exposed to this substance, that it has adverse effects on lab animals, that for some reason there had to be a "safe" limit established for drinking water, that it has been found in the blood of people and is now found in a fresh water aquifer, and it finds enough concern to warrant continuing studies. Yet in the face of all the "unknowns" the EPA says there is nothing to worry about, just go ahead and continue using and buying the non-stick cookware. Those of us who are old enough have seen this movie many times.

Through things like a PFOA Stewardship Program and annual progress reports from eight polluted communities it appears the EPA may not be paying the kind of attention to this substance as would be best for the public health. If it's a man-made item and the long term effect on humans isn't known then it should be labeled as "Long Term Safety Unknown. Use at your own risk."

Perhaps not all the guinea pigs are actually guinea pigs.

Learn more about this author, Duane Craig.
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