First, Johns Hopkins finds the currently classed “likely carcinogen” PFOA-teflon derivative in 298 out of 300 blood samples from umbilical chords. Then perfluoronated chemicals (PFCs) from Teflon production are found in the Mississippi River and the researcher is fired!

It’s a sad day when we discover, as a new study by John Hopkins University has, that a chemical pollutant from the production of grease-proof food wrapping and Teflon (PFOA) exists in the umbilical chords of nearly every human baby tested. Then when another toxic, probable human carcinogen Teflon byproduct is found in the Mississippi River just south of Minneapolis, threatening the city’s main drinking water source, the scientist doing the discovering is fired by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner, who used to work for 3M. 3M, who produce Teflon and Scotchgard, reportedly have been dumping 50,000 pounds of the stuff, perfluoronated chemicals, or PFCs, into the Mississippi downstream from their plant every year — though the
company supposedly stopped doing this a few years ago. So they say. . . . .

Why not just be irresponsible, and rapaciously pour more toxic chemicals into our environment and biggest river?
Who cares about the fish and the plants and the people that drink the water anyway?

And if everybody shuts up, who will even know about it!?
Cancer? Illness? Poisoned fish?
Sssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh!…………….

But, yes, there is something you can do. So, check below here and see what you think, and get your fingers ready!
More of the stories now, via www.organicconsumers.org

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“A government scientist has been forced to resign, after discovering dangerous levels of a toxic chemical in the Mississippi River. The toxins, specifically known as perfluoronated chemicals (PFCs), are a byproduct of the manufacture of a number of products including Teflon and Scotchgard. In late 2005, Dr. Oliaei Fardin found dangerous levels of PFC’s in the Mississippi River downstream from a 3M Corporation’s dumping site in Minnesota. 3M had been dumping 50,000 pounds of the toxic chemical in the river every year, in a heavily populated metropolitan area, where the river serves as the main drinking water source for Minneapolis and St. Paul. PFCs have caused birth defects and deaths in animal studies and are considered a likely human carcinogen. Fardin, a scientist at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, found levels of PFCs in the area’s fish that were the HIGHEST EVER FOUND IN THE WORLD!!! Following her discovery, she was unable to get the state to issue a public health advisory, as would normally be required by law. After she filed a federal whistleblower’s lawsuit against the agency, Fardin was forced to resign by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Commissioner, a former Executive of 3M. Her research, which has now been halted, would have helped assess how far downstream the chemical contamination had traveled in the Mississippi River, one of the nation’s largest waterways and municipal water sources. Please send a letter to the EPA, MPCA, and Minnesota Governor Pawlenty demanding the 3M Corporation be fined for chemical cleanup costs.”

[mY CAPS ABOVE]
YOU CAN TAKE ACTION HERE:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd-pfc.cfm

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Concerning the baby navel blood or umbilical blood:

The Johns Hopkins testing found that 298 out of 300 blood samples from umbilical chords tested positive for PFOA, which has been categorized as a likely carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board. The EPA has also accused DuPont of covering up a 1981 study that found PFOA passed from DuPont’s pregnant employees to fetuses. Late last year, DuPont agreed to pay a record $10.25 million fine for failing to tell the EPA about its studies that found PFOA to be “extremely toxic”. “

from:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/toxic/teflon2.cfm

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Study Finds Teflon Chemical In Newborns’ Umbilical Cords

More information now, especially if you are worried about your baby being subjected to chemicals that can her or him to contract cancer at a very early age, or maybe have birth defects already:

February 7, 2006

“A chemical used in manufacturing Teflon is found in the bloodstreams of nearly everyone in the U.S., and now a new study suggests the potential carcinogen is present in many people at birth.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Center say the chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA, was found in nearly every blood sample taken from umbilical cords. Of 300 cords tested, 298 tested positive for PFOA, according to the study.

Doctors have known that the chemical is widespread in the environment. What they don’t know is whether it’s toxic to people [gotta have that study to absolutely prove it, and doctors just have to have that conclusive evidence – or maybe they could be pro-active, and advise you moms and dads that this stuff very likely is a problem? See more on this website about this, and one deformed victim named Bucky Bailey in West Virginia at: /index.php?itemid=80&catid=3

“An Environmental Protection Agency panel, which studied the chemical, has concluded PFOA is a likely carcinogen.

PFOA is manufactured by DuPont, which recently agreed to FDA demands to virtually eliminate any new emissions from its plants making Teflon by 2010. DuPont has already paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits brought by residents who live near a Teflon plant in West Virginia.

The Environmental Protection Agency is also studying the effects of PFOA. The agency said it began its investigation because PFOA is very persistent in the environment, was being found at very low levels both in the environment and in the blood of the general U.S. population, and caused developmental and other adverse effects in laboratory animals.

Late last month the EPA asked all PFOA manufacturers to participate in a global “stewardship” program on PFOA and related chemicals.

Participating companies will be asked to commit to reducing PFOA from emissions and product content by 95 percent no later than 2010, and to work toward eliminating PFOA from emissions and product content no later than 2015.

The Environmental Working Group, a public interest watchdog, said major changes are needed in the way the government regulates potentially dangerous chemicals.

“The controlling law for these chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act, has left government regulators toothless, purblind, and overly dependent on volunteerism since it was first passed, in 1976. It is the only major modern environmental law that has not been comprehensively reauthorized since its original passage,” the group said in a statement.”

Furthermore:

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DuPont to phase out PFOA packaging chemical

By Ahmed ElAmin

http://www.packwire.com/news/ng.asp?n=65503-dupont-chemical-pfoa

31/01/2006 – “DuPont has agreed to phase out a chemical used in grease proof wrapping for foods, leaving packagers scrambling for alternatives.

The move comes as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pushed manufacturers of PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) to reduce the chemical’s presence in products by 95 per cent no later than 2010, and completely by 2015.

The processing industry is under regulatory and consumer pressure to ensure better safety of their food products and the packaging. Health concerns about packaging chemicals, such as phthalates, have raised consumer awareness of about the risks posed by materials

PFOA is used to line grease-resistant packaging for candy, pizza, microwave popcorn and hundreds of other foods. DuPont was hit by allegations last year that it hid studies showing the high health risks of the chemical. DuPont has denied the charges.

While scientific studies have so far not shown PFOA to be pose a risk to human health, the EPA has been under pressure from community groups to ban the use of the chemical.

Last week the EPA called on DuPont and six other corporations to voluntarily eliminate PFOA and similar substances from plant emissions and products by 2015. The companies are being asked to meet the commitments in the US as well as in their global operations.

So far only DuPont has agreed to reduce its use of the chemical, but says eliminating it altogether may be impossible. In a press release today, the company said it has already reduced PFOA emissions from US plant sites by 96 per cent.

The company also disputed a finding by the Science Advisory Board (SAB), which stated in a draft report that PFOA should be classified as a “likely” carcinogen.

DuPont said the SAB report was based on laboratory studies in rats, and did not adequately reflect human health data that show no health effects. The SAB panel members did not agree among themselves that PFOA should be put on a classified list.

The company supports the position of those panel members who agreed with EPA’s current draft risk assessment that states PFOA should be classified as a “suggestive” carcinogen.

“PFOA induces benign tumors in male rats, but only at high doses and by a mechanism that is not likely relevant to humans,” DuPont said in quoting Samuel Cohen, chairperson of the department of pathology and microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “Thus, we can be confident that PFOA does not pose a cancer risk to humans at the low levels found in the general population.”

The EPA report found that PFOA is persistent in the environment. It has been detected in low levels in wildlife and humans, and animal studies conducted have indicated effects of concern.

“The science is still coming in, but the concern is there so acting now to minimize future releases of PFOA is the right thing to do for our environment and our health,” stated Susan B. Hazen, EPA’s acting assistant administrator in the organisation’s prevention, pesticides and toxic substances unit.

DuPont noted that its trademark Teflon brand non-stick coatings is made from fluoropolymers, not PFOA.

PFOA is a processing aid used to make fluoropolymers – high performance plastics manufactured by a number of companies.

DuPont said its has developed new technology that can reduce PFOA content in fluoropolymer dispersions by more than 97 per cent. DuPont has offered the technology to fluoropolymer manufacturers globally in a royalty-free exchange.

Other companies being asked to voluntarily reduce PFOA emissions are 3M/Dyneon, Arkema, Inc., AGC Chemicals/Asahi Glass, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Clariant Corp., Daikin and Solvay Solexis.

Late last year, DuPont agreed to pay a record $10.25 million fine for failing to tell the EPA about its studies that found the chemical had contaminated
human blood and should be considered “extremely toxic”. The company also agreed to pay another $6.25 million for research to evaluate the way PFOA degrades in the environment.

The EPA had accused DuPont of failing to submit a 1981 study revealing that PFOA was passed from pregnant employees to their fetuses.

The fine followed allegations over DuPont’s marquee paper packaging coating chemical, Zonyl RP, which is cleared for use in the US and the EU.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) and a former chemical engineer with DuPont claimed that the company suppressed studies showing Zonyl RP could contaminate food at over three times the US federal safety standard.

Zonyl RP generates about $100 million in revenues a year for DuPont. Since the FDA originally approved the use of the chemical for food packing in 1967, scientists have found the body breaks down fluorotelomers such as Zonyl into PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid. PFOA accumulates in the human body.

DuPont denies the claims.” [Of course!]

[Share your thoughts at OCA’s web forum! on
their wonderful website www.organicconsumers.org]

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The one paragraph alert restated now, with a touch more detail concerning
Dr. Fardin’s work and fate, and that of us affected
by this miscreance downstream. . . . . and a bit
more information from the banks of the Mississippi from a fellow at Minnesota Public Radio:

ALERT: GOVERNMENT COVER-UP… TEFLON BYPRODUCT POLLUTING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

A government scientist has been forced to resign, after discovering dangerous levels of a toxic chemical in the Mississippi River. The toxins, specifically known as perfluoronated chemicals (PFCs), are a byproduct of the manufacture of a number of products including Teflon and Scotchgard. In late 2005, Dr. Oliaei Fardin found dangerous levels of PFC’s in the Mississippi River downstream from a 3M Corporation’s dumping site in Minnesota. 3M had been dumping 50,000 pounds of the toxic chemical in the river every year, in a heavily populated metropolitan area, where the river serves as the main drinking water source for Minneapolis and St. Paul. PFCs have caused birth defects and deaths in animal studies and are considered a likely human carcinogen. Fardin, a scientist at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, found levels of PFCs in the area’s fish that were the highest ever discovered in the world. Following her discovery, she was unable to get the state to issue a public health advisory, as would normally be required by law. After she filed a federal whistleblower’s lawsuit against the agency, Fardin was forced to resign by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Commissioner, a former Executive of 3M. Her research, which has now been halted, would have helped assess how far downstream the chemical contamination had traveled in the Mississippi River, one of the nation’s largest waterways and municipal water sources. Please send a letter to the EPA, MPCA, and Minnesota Governor Pawlenty demanding the 3M Corporation be fined for chemical cleanup costs. Take action here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd-pfc.cfm

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MPCA researcher reports dramatic test results as she’s forced out

http://www.organicconsumers.org/toxic/mpca.cfm

by Mike Edgerly, Minnesota Public Radio
February 3, 2006

“Blood samples taken from Mississippi River fish near a 3M plant show high levels of a chemical related to the company’s former Scotchgard operations. The level of the compound PFOS found in some of the fish is believed to be the highest found anywhere in the world. The tests were conducted by a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency scientist who left the agency this week, after a long dispute with her bosses over her research.

The blood samples from 24 smallmouth bass, white bass, walleye, carp and others from the Mississippi River just downstream of the 3M Cottage Grove plant, showed high levels of several perfluoronated chemicals.

The highest level came from a white bass. That sample revealed a PFOS level of 29,600 parts per billion. The level was so high, the fish was retested and the retest showed a similar level.

Oliaei quit the agency this week in a negotiated settlement, in which she dropped her federal whistleblower lawsuit against the MPCA. She says never has the blood of an animal tested this high for a perfluorinated chemical.

“That is significant. And I am leaving this agency with my final voice of asking the public to demand the Pollution Control Agency to do comprehensive work on this,” says Oliaei.

Testing has shown that people, fish and mammals around the world have traces of perfluorinated chemicals in their blood. 3M’s own testing has shown these chemicals to be toxic in lab animalls. But 3M says none of its testing has shown the chemicals to be toxic to humans.

There are no federal guidelines on these compounds, though the Environmental Protection Agency has asked companies to voluntarily cease making and using them.

According to Oliaei, if a fish lower in the food chain can show high levels of PFOS, then animals higher in the food chain could test even higher.

For nearly 50 years, 3M made and used PFOS and other perfluorinated compounds in Scotchgard and other products. One estimate by the Pollution Control Agency estimated as much as 50,000 pounds of the compounds were released into the Mississipp River each year.

In 2000, 3M announced it would cease use of the compounds and had mostly done so by 2002.

These latest test results were revealed by Oliaei in an inteview with Minnesota Public Radio.

Mike Sandusky, the director of the MPCA’s environmental analysis and outcomes division, says the testing by Oliaei, his former agency colleague, was valuable. Now that it has this research, Sandusky says the MPCA will ask the Health Department for its advice on what the public should be told about the healthfulness of fish taken from the Mississippi River.

“The Department of Health will use this data to determine an appropriate response, within their responsiblity, to determine fish consumption advice for the state of Minnesota. So the analysis of this data, which is raw data on fish, they will use for appropriate response for fish consumption advice,” says Sandusky.

Oliaei’s claims that MPCA Commissioner Sheryl Corrigan, a former 3M employee and other agency managers tried to block her work, triggered two hearings by the Senate Environment Committee, chaired by Sen. John Marty.

That the MPCA views as valuable this latest research from a scientist it no longer wanted on staff, was not lost on Marty.

“I think the first thing I would do if I were them is hire someone like Dr. Oliaei — who was just fired,” says Marty. “I think what we want is people who have some expertise in this and know what’s happening, and are willing to pursue it vigorously.”

The samples were taken as part of the second phase of Oliaei’s investigation into the spread of perfluoronated chemicals. Her earlier research found levels of the chemicals in fish taken from Voyaguers National Park.

Since then, then perfluorinated chemicals have been detected in wells in the east metro area.

Though Fardin Oliaei is no longer employed by the MPCA, her work on perflurornated chemicals will live on at the agency. At her insistence, and with the help of some DNR staff, fish have been taken from Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River, where scientists suspect perfluoronated chemicals may have accumulated in the sediment.

The MPCA’s Mike Sandusky says this research is part of the agency’s investigation into the spread of the chemicals statewide.

Please send a letter to the EPA, MPCA, and Governor Pawlenty demanding the 3M Corporation be fined for chemical cleanup costs.
Take action here
Letter from Representative Karen Clark:

Friends, last week the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency forcibly retired Dr. Fardin Oliaei from her 16 years of employment there in a mediated settlement. Dr. Oliaei is a highly respected research scientist, whose work on PBDEs, PFCs, and other emerging toxic contaminants is pioneering research that has been invaluable to other scientists and citizens throughout the world.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency placed extreme obstacles in the path of Dr. Oliaei’s scientific work and ultimately forced her to resign. This politicization of science robs our society of the benefits of scientific inquiry, whether in public health or protection of the environment. Without our knowledge, Minnesotans have been exposed to these highly toxic, bioaccumulative, and persistant chemicals that 3M has been manufacturing and dumping waste from for the last 50 years. These persistent PFCs have ended up in the Mississippi River, in residential well water, fish, soil, air and consumer products, and yet Minnesotans have been denied the right-to-know their particular exposure risks by an agency that is supposed to provide that protection. Even though 3M stopped manufacturing this chemical in 2002, its persistence in our environment is extremely high, as found by Dr. Oliaei’s recent research. Unfortunately, 3M has left a dangerous legacy for generations, but if the public knows about it we can begin to invest in clean-up and hopefully in effective prevention efforts. We urge that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency not be allowed to get away with their unacceptable and unethical behavior in this situation. Since the MPCA did a pre-emptive press release last Friday, February 3, it is important that the public respond immediately.

The following site also contain important information:

PEER’s (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) web site: http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=640

Please send a letter to the EPA, MPCA, and Governor Pawlenty demanding the 3M Corporation be fined for chemical cleanup costs.

Take action here: [but ’twas not working 2 26 06]
but keep trying:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2726

February 26, 2006

Do your duty now. This is not an isolated story. Wherever there are companies making chemicals like these, there could be such illicit behaviour. And you or yours or your neighbors, or who knows who else could be affected. Our govt is using science to further its ideology, instead of allowing science and scientists to do their work and help us discover what is really going on in our world.

All the Best,
And Good Health,
Conrad Miller M.D.