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| The Top Ten Unfounded Health Scares of 2006 #6 |
| Teflon Contains a Cancer-Causing Chemical (PFOA) |
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 The Scare: Recently, the public has become concerned about the potential human health effects of PFOA (perflurooctanoic acid or perfluoroocanoate) a chemical used to produce substances needed to manufacture Teflon and other products. PFOA is mainly used to produce other chemicals, which are then used in the production of products such as Teflon coating in cookware. Research has shown that very high doses of PFOA can cause harm to animals, but the amount of PFOA to which the general population is exposed is much lower.
In 2004, concerns about PFOA were widely reported in the media because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed that DuPont, the manufacturer of Teflon, had not adequately reported information about PFOA’s presence in water supplies and its ability to cross the placenta from mother to fetus. In February of this year, a group of scientific advisers to the Environmental Protection Agency voted to approve a recommendation that PFOA be considered a likely human carcinogen.
Origin of the Scare: Concern over Teflon and human health have been around for a long time. This most recent scare was instigated by the recent EPA report. Controversy exists regarding the report’s use of certain unpublished studies. Some members of the review panel disagreed with the majority view that PFOA should be classified as a “likely carcinogen.” These members pointed out that previously the EPA had determined that there was only “suggestive evidence” from animal studies that PFOA and its salts are potential human carcinogens.
Media Coverage: As with Teflon scares in the past, this scare was immediately picked up by the media. NBC News, CBS News, BBC News, and Fox News were a few of the news sources that ran stories about the EPA’s new recommendation. NBC News (47) incorrectly stated that PFOA was present in pots and pans. In fact, the chemical is destroyed in the manufacturing process and is not present in pots and pans that are coated in Teflon.
In addition, activists groups such as the Environmental Working Group (EWG), who has been advocating the banning of Teflon for years, commented on the new recommendations from the EPA. “Our concern is that this is a very unique chemical,” said Richard Wiles with the EWG. “It lasts, literally, for eternity, and now it has been determined to be a likely human carcinogen. That ranks it up there with DDT, PCBs, and dioxin as a very serious hazard. It needs to be banned.”
The Bottom Line: While research has shown the adverse effects of high doses of PFOA in animals, studies of workers (who are exposed to much higher doses of PFOA than the general population) have not shown the same effects in humans that occur in animals. Additionally, laboratory animals that experience adverse effects from PFOA are exposed to amounts that are hundreds to thousands of times higher than those to which the general population is exposed.
There is doubt, however, as to whether at least some of the effects observed in animals are relevant to humans at all, since some biological mechanisms that produce these effects are not present in humans. Furthermore, workers with blood levels of PFOA equal to or higher than those that have been found to cause adverse effects in animals have themselves not shown any adverse effects. This suggests that the margins of safety for the general population may be even higher than the risk analyses predict.
While further research is needed in order to more fully understand how PFOA acts in the body, the current data indicate that we can expect no risk to human health associated with the levels of PFOA exposure found in the general population.
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| Table of Contents |
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Introduction
1. Trans Fatty Acids Cause Obesity and Heart Disease
2. Benzene in Soft Drinks Cause Cancer
3. High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Obesity
4. Tuna Has Unsafe Mercury Levels
5. Nitrosamines in Bacon Cause Bladder Cancer
6. Teflon Contains a Cancer-Causing Chemical (PFOA)
7. Grilled Chicken: Another Cancer Risk?
8. Meat Packaging Threatens Consumers’ Health
9. Consumers Should Fear Chemicals in Cosmetics
10. Hormone Replacement Therapy Fears and Hype About “Natural” Alternatives
References
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| Published: December 2006 |
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| Paperback |
| ISBN: N/A |
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