PFOA: Sticky troubles for producers?

20 February 2006 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

AFTER THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made its official request to ban the use of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) by 2015, several companies quickly distanced themselves from the controversial fluoropolymer, while DuPont went on the offensive to protect its Teflon investment.

PFOA, also known as C8, is the most common building block of the perfluorocarbon family of chemicals. Perfluorocarbons are used for their durability and stability as well as resistance to water, oil and other solvents. PFOA is also used to make aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), a component of fire-fighting foams.

In January, the EPA asked eight companies to develop a stewardship program where they would reduce their global use of PFOA by 95% by 2010 and eliminate it by 2015. In addition to DuPont, this included 3M/Dynean Company, a unit of 3M Company; Arkema Inc.; AGC Chemicals/Asahi Glass; Ciba Specialty Chemicals Holding Inc.; Clariant Corp.; Daikin Industries Ltd.; and Solvay Solexis.

DuPont is the only US producer of PFOA, with the other companies either buying it from DuPont or from a handful of foreign chemical companies. DuPont representatives say that by targeting the eight companies, the EPA would eliminate more than three-quarters of the use of PFOA globally, leaving China as the largest remaining producer of PFOA.

This EPA notice came after the December agreement where the EPA and DuPont settled for $16.5 million over the company’s not reporting PFOA’s health risks.

Then, almost immediately after asking the eight companies to comply with PFOA reductions, the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) advised that PFOA should be classified as a “likely” carcinogen—a chemical that is known to cause cancer in animals, though the evidence that it causes cancer in humans is suggestive but not conclusive.

DuPont disputes the cancer classification recommended by the SAB. “The weight of evidence indicates that PFOA exposure does not pose a health risk to the general public,” says Robert Rickard, DuPont director-health and environmental sciences. “In over 50 years of working with PFOA, there is no association of cancer in workers who handle or use PFOA.”

For about 50 years, DuPont bought PFOA from a third party, but in 2002, it started making PFOA to support its manufacture of fluoropolymer resins and dispersions. “PFOA is not used in the manufacture of fluorotelomers,” the company says. “However, it is an unintended by-product present at trace levels in fluorotelomer-based products.”

In a statement released in January, DuPont’s tone was adamant in stressing the difference between PFOA and Teflon: “Teflon is a brand name and a registered trademark of DuPont. Teflon is not PFOA. Teflon and PFOA are entirely different. PFOA is a processing aid, used in the manufacturing process for Teflon. Teflon is a product brand. It is also inaccurate to describe PFOA as an ingredient in Teflon cookware. The improper use of the Teflon brand as a synonym for PFOA is not only inaccurate, but also constitutes a trademark violation.”

Teflon is the brand name of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), discovered by researchers at DuPont in 1938 and commercialized by the company in 1946. If cured properly, there should be no traces left of PFOA on a Teflon pan.

While Omnova Solutions Inc., which manufacturers the PFOA replacement PolyFox, says the potential world market for fluorosurfactant applications is between $100 million and $200 million, the potential financial losses that may result from a?phaseout could be much higher. In its November 2005 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, DuPont said, regarding potential PFOA regulatory action: “Products currently manufactured by the company representing approximately $1 billion of 2004 revenues could be affected by any such regulation or prohibition.”

Teflon’s rivals, like French cookware manufacturer Groupe SEB, have also expressed concern over the impact to sales of nonstick pans—perhaps with good reason. According to the Cookware Manufacturing Association, about 70% of the cookware sold in the US has a nonstick coating.

And another economic fallout seems to have already begun. McDonald’s has said that it will be switching to PFOA-free coatings on its food packaging, and Wal-Mart has said that it is working with its suppliers and regulatory agencies to “reduce the presence of PFOA in products in our stores.”

Other Company Reactions

In January, Clariant Corp. said that while “trace amounts of PFOA in Clariant fluorotelomers may result as an unintended manufacturing by-product,” and its evaluations have determined that “the potential risk to humans from exposure to PFOA through fluorotelomer-treated products is negligible,” it was “actively evaluating” its participation in the PFOA stewardship program.

Although 3M hasn’t made PFOA since 2004 and says it currently uses only small quantities of it in one plant in Germany, the company says it is searching for an alternative chemical to replace the PFOA used in Germany, which is used in the manufacture of auto parts.

Other companies are taking a different tack: Early this month, the Asahi Glass Company introduced its AsahiGuard E-Series line of telomer chemicals that serve as fluorinated water and oil repellents for textile and paper. The company made sure in its press releases to stress that “these new products are free of PFOA.”

Meanwhile, Omnova ramped up its campaign to remind the public of its line of fluorine-based polymers, such as PolyFox. Omnova points out that PolyFox fluorochemicals “neither contain, nor will they degrade to, the PFOA or PFOA-like materials that are of concern” to the EPA.

By: Ivan Lerner
+1 713 525 2653

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