Teflon-making chemical 'likely' to cause cancer

Report should force EPA to act, advocates say

June 30, 2005|Associated Press

DOVER, Del. -- A chemical used by DuPont Co. to make the nonstick substance Teflon poses more of a cancer risk than indicated in a draft assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency, an independent review board has found.

The EPA stated earlier this year that its draft assessment of perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts found ''suggestive evidence" of potential human carcinogenicity, based on animal studies.

In a draft report, the majority of members on an EPA scientific advisory board that reviewed the agency's report concluded that PFOA, also known as C-8, is ''likely" to be carcinogenic to humans, and that the EPA should conduct cancer risk assessments for a variety of tumors found in mice and rats.

Environmentalists hailed the report as an important step in holding government regulators and the Delaware-based chemical giant accountable.

The board's findings will increase pressure on the EPA to conduct human health risk assessments for liver, breast, pancreatic, and testicular cancer, as well as on PFOA's potentially toxic effects on the immune system, said Richard Wiles, senior vice president for the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy and research organization. ''This makes it hard for the EPA not to move forward aggressively," he said.

A spokeswoman for the EPA, said agency officials had not reviewed the advisory report and do not comment on recommendations until they are final.

DuPont officials would not comment but said in a prepared statement that human health and toxicology studies suggest PFOA exposure does not cause cancer in humans.

DuPont uses PFOA in the manufacturing of Teflon, used in products such as cookware and clothing, but the chemical is not part of the nonstick material.