Perfluorooctane+acid+(Silver+Class)

toc Kiara =Abstract=

My chemical is Perfluorooctanic Acid. This chemical is used to make fluropolymers, which are known for their valuable properties such as fire resistance and oil, stain, and grease repellency. Current thinking is that PFOA, if it remains in some products, it will eventually degrade and become part of the environment The only company in the US that uses PFOA is DuPoint. The possible dangers of PFOA are present when you use nonstick cookware and or stain and water resistant products. The minute you start to heat up a nonstick pan, the Teflon that it is coated with breaks up and emits PFOA. Ingestion of PFOA can lead to cancer, growth defects, liver damage, and immune system damage. The basic mechanisms in which PFOA’s usually break down are: in sunlight or through reactive chemicals in the air (photolysis), by bacterial action (biodegradation) and through chemical reaction with water (hydrolysis). PFOA’s are usually disposed of in landfills, public waters, and disposal streams. PFOA’s are bio-accumulative which means that we can accumulate PFOA’s in our tissues and toxic to mammals. They are known to bio-concentrate in fish (gets into fishes tissue) this is another way we can be exposed to PFOA’s because we eat animals that have been exposed to it. Perfluoroctanoic Acid is manmade to resist heat, water, oil grease, and stains. PFOA can be formed by the breakdown of other highly fluorinated chemicals. People who purchase products that contain any ingredients with the words “fluoro” or “perfluoro” in them are at risk for injury by PFOA. Alternatives for PFOA’s are regular pans or things that don’t “resist” anything. Also containers that are made out of cardboard or paper which don’t have a oil coating on it. These things contain PFOA and should be avoided. We would not have half of the cosmetics we use, no non-stick pans, no waterproof clothing, stain-proof clothing, floss, nail polish, and most eye-make up if PFOA was banned. Overall, PFOA aren’t “dangerous” but they are harmful. They are not fatal unless you are exposed to them everyday but not most people are. It takes a lot for you to get PFOA into your body and you can do that by ingestion but even thought the PFOA is emitted from your non-stick pans, once it hits the oxygen in the air, it starts to breakdown into the environment. What we can do to help this is even though it is not directly harmless to us we can refrain from buying products that contain PFOA just to be safe.

=Background=

My chemical is Perfluorooctanic Acid. This chemical is used to make fluropolymers, which are known for their valuable properties such as fire resistance and oil, stain, and grease repellency. For example they are used to provide non-stick surfaces on cookware and waterproof clothing. There are no specific products that contain PFOA and this can be a trick question because PFOA is used in the manufacturing of some products, but is not supposed to remain. PFOA is actually used to make the fluropolymers, which is what goes into the pans and clothes, but almost none of that is directly PFOA. Current thinking is that PFOA, if it remains in some products, it will eventually degrade and become part of the environment. So the main use of PFOA is to make fluroploymers. Some companies that manufacture PFOA are DuPoint (Teflon), 3M, Clariant GmbH, Daikin Industries and Asahi Glass. The only company in the US that uses it though is DuPoint. Some of the other countries that manufacture PFOA are: Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, and United Kingdom.

=Health/Environmental=

The possible dangers of PFOA are present when you use nonstick cookware and or stain and water resistant products. For instance, the minute you start to heat up a nonstick pan, the Teflon that it is coated with breaks up and emits PFOA. So when you put your food in the pan PFOA’s find their way into the food and you eventually ingest it. Ingestion of PFOA can lead to cancer, growth defects, liver damage, and immune system damage. So far, five different pathways have been identified that might explain how PFOA causes cancer and other types of toxicity. These include mitochondrial toxicity; cell membrane disruption that results in decreased cell communication; peroxisome proliferation; increased levels of estrogen and decreased levels of testosterone; and decreased thyroid hormone levels. These are examples of body processes that can be affected by PFOA’s. The circulatory system is mainly affected by PFOA but the reproductive system is also affected. PFOA’s can enter the blood and damage cells so that is circulatory system. PFOA’s can break down in the environment. The basic mechanisms in which PFOA’s usually break down are: in sunlight or through reactive chemicals in the air (photolysis), by bacterial action (biodegradation) and through chemical reaction with water (hydrolysis). Studies conducted by The Fluoride Action Network Pesticide Project found that PFOA’s-even though able to break down in the air or the environment, are not available for us to inhale that way. PFOA’s are bio-accumulative which means that we can accumulate PFOA’s in our tissues and toxic to mammals. They are known to bio-concentrate in fish (gets into fishes tissue) this is another way we can be exposed to PFOA’s because we eat animals that have been exposed to it. I didn’t find that PFOA degrades but PFOA’s are byproducts of Perfluoropolymers. DuPoint scientists find that their Polyfluoropolymers degrade too slowly to be a current source of PFOA in the environment. PFOA’s are usually disposed of in landfills, public waters, and disposal streams.

=Synthesis/Production & Economical/Political=

Perfluoroctane Acid is manmade to resist heat, water, oil grease, and stains. PFOA can be formed by the breakdown of other highly fluorinated chemicals. The most common products that this chemical is used in are non-stick cooking pans, waterproof clothing, and stain resistant clothing. Stain resistant clothing is made by nanotechnology made with PFOA’s which causes a stain to roll off of the garment instead of setting into it. Non-stick pans for instance, are made in a way that can put a lot of people who use it at risk. The first step to making a non-stick pan is to apply and spread a ceramic and porcelaneous mixture coat and a Teflon coat on the surface of a percussion-molded pan made of non-carbon iron board. The two coats are dealt at different high temperatures and time, and the ceramic mixture coat is made to be concave-convex for the Teflon coat to be firmly adhered (stuck) to. Therefore, the non-stick pan is provided with a strong surface to prevent from being stripped or scratched while cooking. A process for the purification of an impure perfluorinated perfluorooctanoic acid, which process contains: oxidizing the impurities in a reaction mixture which would have a water content of less then 9% by weight, is used to make a lot of something “resistant” products. This is because PFOA is the only chemical that is thin enough but strong enough to do the job. People who purchase products that contain any ingredients with the words “fluoro” or “perfluoro” in them. The companies who manufacture these products such as 3M or DuPoint will also be effected because they could lose a lot of money if their products can no longer be made and/or purchased. Alternatives for PFOA’s are regular pans or things that don’t “resist” anything. Also containers that are made out of cardboard or paper which don’t have a oil coating on it. These things contain PFOA and should be avoided. We would not have half of the cosmetics we use, no non-stick pans, no waterproof clothing, stain-proof clothing, floss, nail polish, and most eye-make up if PFOA was banned. Countries that export and use these products that contain this chemical are Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, and United Kingdom. A ban would affect me because PFOA are in fast food container, microwave popcorn bags, and other things I eat sometimes. A political ramification of banning this chemical would be that a lot of companies would be out of work and money which might make them want to seek legal or political attention.

=Summary=

A benefit of PFOA is that they limit the washing of a pan, the staining of a garment, and the ability for a garment to catch fire because of the protective Teflon coating that PFOA makes. I would ban PFOA because it is something that is not a necessity. To avoid possible ingestion of PFOA we can just use regular pans and regular clothing. All we would have to do is just wash the pan a little more and be a little more careful to avoid stains and combustion. It would not be such a big deal in my opinion if we ban PFOA because it makes things easier yes, but we don’t really need it.