By Richard Mesquita, AquaMD
Hard to believe, it's been almost 70 years since Teflon was first introduced. Since its creation in 1938 by the DuPont Company, it has been added to countless household and personal care products under the sun besides non-stick cookware. To name a few:
- Clothing (Gore-Tex jackets and other apparel)
- Carpets
- Upholstery
- Nail polish removers
- Eyeglasses
- Pizza boxes
Because it was first introduced so many years ago, Teflon gained wide distribution before scientists could determine its impact on our health.
Teflon in Drinking Water
Dupont manufactured Teflon one time or another at various chemical plants in the United States. And, while it was clear to everyone that a component of Teflon known as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was found in drinking water supplies near their chemical plant in West Virginia, no one seemed to know about any contamination to public water supplies surrounding their Ohio chemical plant.
In fact, Ohio's state Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publicly announced that PFOA was not found in drinking water supplies surrounding the Dupont Ohio chemical plant. Yet, amazingly, just one day after their announcement, federal EPA officials said they had indeed found PFOA in that same drinking water.
Even worse, a federal EPA official involved with the discovery of that PFOA-contaminated water said she was just not confident the feds would get all the information they needed to pursue the matter completely. And, to top it all off, despite all the warnings, Ohio's EPA continues to tell residents they should not be concerned with the PFOA that is in their water ...
Why Don't We Know More About the Health Effects of PFOA?
The federal EPA claims that for decades DuPont knew that PFOA was being dumped into areas surrounding their plants and it was leaching into water supplies, but they neglected to report it. On the other hand, DuPont says it was unnecessary to report their findings to the EPA under the law. That's why it wasn't until five years ago the feds started investigating the risks of PFOA. What they are discovering is pretty worrisome.
For example, they now know that once PFOA is released into the environment, it doesn't quickly break down and disappear. Even when a person exposed to PFOA cuts off all future exposure, it still takes another 20 years for the body to get rid of that toxic substance, says Tim Kropp, a toxicologist with the Environmental Working Group.
DuPont may be starting to see the light. Before the discovery of the latest contamination, they settled one class-action lawsuit involving PFOA contamination by agreeing to pay for tests to measure the level of PFOA in blood samples of residents who live near their Teflon manufacturing plants in the United States. They expect to spend $70 million on that testing. And depending on what's found, the company may have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more to find out exactly how PFOA is impacting people's health.
To settle another lawsuit, DuPont agreed to build a $100-million water treatment plant to remove PFOA from the drinking water near one of their facilities.
In yet another town, DuPont is now providing bottled water to 4,300 residents until they can install the right treatment systems to remove PFOA from their water supply.
What We Do Know About PFOA
Based on tests performed on lab animals, an advisory panel of the federal EPA has recommended PFOA be classified as a likely human carcinogen.
A recent study has also found that people exposed to PFOA had a 10 percent increase in cholesterol levels and most of that was due to a rise in bad (LDL) cholesterol.
Amazingly, there is no federal safe drinking water standard for PFOA and the state EPA of West Virginia has set a lax standard that's based on little meaningful research. In fact, the EPA of West Virginia claims if the level of PFOA in your water supply is less than 150 parts per billion (ppb), it is safe for consumption.
But a recent study of 326 people who had been using water contaminated with PFOA levels of only 2-7 ppb, had PFOA levels in their blood of 298–369 ppb.
How did that happen? As I mentioned before, once the PFOA toxin gets into your system, it stays in your system. The more water you use, the more PFOA that accumulates in your body!
Make Sure Your Water is Safe
This Teflon report is not an isolated incident. Our country is littered with contaminated water supplies. And, in most cases, local water companies tell their customers not to be concerned: "The water is perfectly safe ... It meets all EPA standards ..." Often, however, the water really isn't safe. Time and again, the safety standards they reference are based on poor research and driven by big business. In other cases, standards are non-existent.
Case in point, the threat posed by PFOA merits no federal safe drinking water standard, even though the EPA believes PFOA is a likely carcinogen.
Take time to find out what is in your water supply. If specific contaminants are identified, you can install the right water treatment system to care for your particular problem. You can then also meet with your health care practitioner about treating any damage it has done to your body.