WASHINGTON, DC/July 23, 2003/As part of an Environmental Protection Agency review of the chemicalīs safety, the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. (Washington, DC) has reached a preliminary agreement to do more testing of a compound used to produce fluoropolymers. The EPA held a public hearing on perfluorooctanoic acid on July 10, and is trying to develop a consensus among interested parties rather than do its own regulation. However, approval of this process depends on SPI addressing the EPA's concerns, in addition to those of environmental groups and others interested in the effects of PFOA on human health.

The EPA began a review of PFOA exposure levels in April, after clinical studies indicated it can harm laboratory rats, and that it can be found in low levels in the bloodstream of people in the US. The Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, Ga.) will probably add PFOA to the chemicals they check for regularly in human blood.

SPI's Fluoropolymers Manufacturers Group earlier produced a list of tests it would conduct. After listening to stakeholder concerns since April, it decided it would test for both incineration and polymer degradation. Once agreement is reached, SPI wants to sign an "enforceable consent agreement" with EPA. This would pre-empt the agency imposing its own regulations. SPI is attempting to form a consensus among environmental groups, and among people living near fluoropolymer plants, that the industry is doing the research that's needed.


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