Policy News - December 15, 2004

Canada bans fluoropolymer stain repellents

Environment Canada, Canada’s environmental protection agency, has banned for at least two years three fluorinated polymers used as stain repellents. Regulators outside Canada are closely watching the move because it marks the first time any government has banned such chemicals.

Canada acted on the basis of emerging science linking fluorotelomer alcohols—chemicals that are used to make stain repellents and that can be used as stain repellents themselves—to long-chain perfluorocarboxylates (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2004, 38, 215A–216A). These carboxylates have been found in Arctic animals (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36, 146A–152A) and include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which is under intense scrutiny by the U.S. EPA because it is often found in human blood and is linked to developmental effects in animals (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003, 37, 201A–202A).

The ban was initiated this summer after manufacturers asked to either begin or expand production of the three fluorinated polymers that contain telomer alcohols. Canada acted under the new chemicals provisions of the 1999 Canadian Environmental Protection Act, but the action was only made public this fall. The ban lasts for two years, and then it can be made permanent or, if new information exonerates the chemical, it can be lifted, says John Arseneau, director general of Environment Canada’s risk assessment directorate in Ottawa.

“Ours is a preventative program,” explains Arseneau. “In the face of emerging science, a growing body of data, and uncertainty about what these chemicals mean to the environment, we judged that it is time to take action.” Canada has moved furthest in the regulation of fluorinated chemicals, according to officials from several countries that are watching with interest.

A contingent of scientists believe that volatile fluorotelomer alcohols are being transported to remote locations where atmospheric reactions, microbial action, or animal metabolism convert them into nonvolatile, longer-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids. Much of this work comes from the labs headed by University of Toronto chemist Scott Mabury, Ford Motor Co. atmospheric scientist Tim Wallington, and Environment Canada scientist Derek Muir.

“Environment Canada is quite up to date in its focus on the longer-chain perfluorocarboxylate acids, for which concentrations in Arctic animals are more than an order of magnitude higher than PFOA,” says Mabury, noting that this may reflect the carboxylate’s higher potential to bioaccumulate. Perfluorocarboxylate concentrations in Arctic ringed seals seem to be doubling as quickly as every four years, according to new data presented by Mabury’s student Craig Butt on November 18 at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry meeting in Portland, Ore. Levels in polar bears are showing similar doubling times.

Scientists believe that the telomer alcohols are constantly being released into the air during their manufacture, through their application, and when the finished products arrive in people’s homes. Stain repellents consist of a polyfluorinated chemical bound to a polymer. Often, some extra amounts of the unbound fluorochemical, or of some of the chemicals used to make it, remain as a residue. It’s also possible that the polymers are breaking down and releasing the chemical.

Chemist Robert Buck with major fluorotelomer manufacturer DuPont supports the volatile degradation hypothesis, but he thinks it doesn’t exclude other explanations. Perfluorocarboxylates have been manufactured for various industrial applications, which could also be sources to the Arctic, he notes. However, getting nonvolatile carboxylates to the Arctic would require a novel global transport mechanism. DuPont is collaborating with academic scientists to produce an analysis of production data and a fate and transport model to evaluate this, he says.

Meanwhile, EPA is targeting PFOA through its existing chemicals regulations. The agency expects to finish a human health risk assessment on PFOA early next year that focuses on the chemical’s developmental effects. EPA has also filed three separate claims against DuPont for withholding information related to its PFOA manufacturing plant in West Virginia (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2004, 38, 264A–265A). In the latest claim, filed on December 6, the agency accuses DuPont of withholding data showing that a dozen people living near the plant have PFOA blood levels of more than 10 times the national average of 5 parts per billion.

In the EU, perfluorooctanyl sulfonate is the target of proposed regulations. A €800,000 research effort is now under way to develop new analytical methods for perfluorinated compounds, including fluorotelomers, and to investigate their properties, sources, and transport in Europe. —REBECCA RENNER