EPA and Its Close-up Study of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)

3M's elimination of Scotchguard Protector, one of its most popular products at the time, came primarily because of the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)'s concerns about the persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of PFOS, the major ingredient in Scotchguard Protector. Because of the assumed dangers of PFOS that are associated with this elimination, which occurred in 2002, concerns were raised about a similar substance, PFOA, which primarily makes up Teflon. According to the Status of EPA Negotiations with Industry on PFOA Related Activities, EPA has been negotiating with several major companies, such as 3M or Dupont, to identify the major effects of PFOA on several laboratory animals. Similar to those of PFOS, data on the effects of PFOA on humans have not been studied insofar as to say that Teflon, or any other type of product that uses PFOA for that matter, will prove harmful in humans. However, as the dates (such as the date on the Incineration ECA, which was signed on July 8, 2005) on the Status table indicate, EPA’s such efforts to prove—or disprove—that PFOA can in fact be detrimental in humans have been recent and ongoing. In addition, EPA also offers the basic backgrounds of PFOA and the like substances in order to raise concerns about their dangers. Because Teflon and other forms of PFOA-like substances are so abundant in all kinds of forms around humans (as the previous posts indicate their applications in detail), it is a relief to see that there are organizations working to study their effects on humans, ready to eliminate such materials from the market once they are proven harmful.