Eco friendly 'green' stain-resistant coatings developed to avoid PFOA
20 Sep '05
5 min read
"These new compounds can go a long way toward reducing PFOA in the environment while still providing the convenience of stain-repellant coatings," says study leader Joseph M. DeSimone, Ph.D., a chemistry professor at UNC and director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes. "That's good news, because once PFOA gets in the environment and in the body, it tends to stay there."
An estimated 95 percent of people in the United States have the chemical in their blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But scientists are not sure how the chemical is getting into the body and have limited information on its long-term health effects.
PFOA, also known as C8, is a man-made chemical that has been used for almost 40 years in a variety of commercial applications. The compound is used in the manufacture of fluoropolymers, which are used to make nonstick materials that are used in some cookware, according to the researchers. The compounds are not present in the nonstick coating itself, they add.
PFOA is also produced indirectly through the gradual breakdown of fluorotelomers, compounds that are used to provide water, stain and grease resistance to many fabric and paper goods, such as clothing and food packaging. Because stain-resistant coatings are so widely used, many researchers believe that these coatings may be a larger source of PFOAs than the manufacture of nonstick materials, DeSimone says.
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