GOVERNMENT & POLICY
SEEKING ORIGINS EPA, companies, others discuss tests needed to finger sources of perfluo rocarbori pollution when they are incinerated. He also suggested that fluoropolymer makers conduct tion Agency is concerned about tests on the degradation of their products. a perfluorochemical used in making nonstick cookware. The com- Although polymers of high molecular weight are not expected to break down pound, used as a surfactant to easily, some lower molecular weight polyproduce a variety of fluoropolymers, is mers possibly could contain residual showing up in the environment and in peoPFOA, which maybe released into the enple's blood. The substance persists in the vironment under typical conditions of use environment, and EPA is worried about poand disposal, Auer said. tential adverse health impacts from exposure to it (C&EN, April 21, page 9). Fluoropolymer makers agree on the need to determine what chemicals are formed But companies that make and use perwhen their products are incinerated, said fluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its salts Donald K. Duncan, president of the Socimay not be the only—or possibly even the ety of the Plastics Industry He spoke on bemain—source of PFOA in the environhalfof the Fluoropolymer ment and in people. Products containing Manufacturing Group, a fluorinated telomers, such as stain-resistcollective of companies ant coatings for garments, upholstery, and that make or import carpets, are not made with and do not conPFOA for use as a surfactain PFOA, but the telomers, which are tant: Asahi Glass Fluoshort polymers, may degrade into PFOA. ropolymers USA, Daikin To find out whether—or to what exAmerica, DuPont, and tent— fluorotelomers can break down inDyneon. to PFOA, EPA is working with manufacturers of these chemicals to do tests. The EPA isn't the only fedagency's effort is not focused solely on eral regulatory agency intelomers, however. EPA also is seeking daterested in PFOA conta on the release of PFOA during the mantamination. Auer said ufacture or processing of fluoropolymers EPA has shared informaand wants studies to determine whether tion with the Food & the chemical is released from resins made Drug Administration, using PFOA as a surfactant. | which is concerned about releases of the chemical from medical imEPA is working with chemical compaplants made with fluorochemicals, such as nies to get this information as quickly as synthetic blood vessels. And at the meetpossible. Companies have indicated that ing, Consumer Product Safety Commission they will do tests voluntarily and provide toxicologist Patricia M. Bittner said her the data EPA needs. To begin ironing out agency seeks information on the presence the details, the agency on June 6 held a of PFOA—and chemicals that can break public meeting in Washington, D.C. down into PFOA—in carpets and textile Charles M. Auer, director of EPAs Ofproducts treated with telomers. EPA, in fice of Pollution Prevention & Toxics, said contrast, wants data on the breakdown the agency wants to settle details on tests products of fluorotelomers themselves. that industry, EPA, and others such as environmental groups readily agree are needed. This will allow companies to begin proIN RESPONSE, KatieSmythe,administraducing the data quickly, he said. Areas of tor of the Telomer Research Program, said disagreement, such as whether companies companies are developing a test protocol to should monitor PFOA in human blood, detect photolysis products of telomers in will get worked out later. carpets and textiles. The program is a consortium funded by the world's four main The main area of consensus is on tests fluorotelomer manufacturers: Asahi Glass, to determine the fate of fluoropolymers Clariant, Daikin America, and DuPont. and fluorotelomers: whether and how they degrade in the environment. Also discussed at the meeting was testing data that companies will submit to EPA Auer suggested that telomer manufacand might claim as confidential and thus turers conduct tests to determine what chemicals their products break down into I keep from the public. Kristina A. Thayer,
T
HE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTEC-
senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group, asked EPA to deny any industry requests for confidentiality protection for information about sources of PFOA in the environment. The public needs access to this data, Thayer said. Meanwhile, Linda Aller of the environmental consulting firm Bennett & Williams, based in Columbus, Ohio, said companies like hers that are monitoring groundwater for contamination need basic chemical information such as density for PFOA and its precursors. The fluoropolymer and fluorotelomer industry groups agreed to work with Thayer and others to determine what kinds of data would be made available to the public. Meanwhile, Smythe said that to fully characterize the potential routes of human and environmental exposure to PFOA, testing should cover all past and current sources of the substance. EPA must include past producers of PFOA, and research should cover a family of compounds that 3M stopped making in 2002—the perfluoroctanyl sulfonate chemicals that once formed the basis of several of its Scotchgard brand products, she said. Auer responded that EPAs statutory authority to require tests on industrial chemicals extends only to substances currently, or expected soon to be, in commerce. Some of the meeting participants asked EPA to seek tests other than chemical fate studies. Robert L. Griffin, general manager of the Little Hocking Water Association in Washington County, Ohio, urged EPA to ask companies to monitor PFOA in people's blood. The utility's wellfield is downwind of and across the Ohio River from a DuPont facility near Parkersburg, WVa., that for decades has used the ammonium salt of PFOA, known as C8. Internal DuPont documents, recently released as part of an ongoing court case, reveal that the company knew that C8 was in the Little Hocking and nearby West Virginia water supplies as of 1984. But the rural utility, which provides water to 12,000 people, did not know that its water was tainted with C8 until 18 months ago, Griffin said. "Unfortunately, we're a ready-made study group," Griffin said of those who drink the utility's water. He told EPA, "Please do not forgetus."—CHERYL H0GUE
Some lower molecular weight polymers could contain residual PFOA, which may get released into the environment under typical conditions of use.
24
C&EN
/JUNE
16,
2003
HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
