Study gives Teflon the 'all clear'

A new study has been released which tracked the health of more than 6,000 employees for more than 50 years, at DuPont plants which use ammonium perfluorooctaonate, also known as C8 or PFOA, to produce the Teflon nonstick coating for pots and pans.

Though it has been used since World War II, C8's long-term effects on humans are still unknown and DuPont has long maintained there are no harmful health effects.

However owners of Teflon-coated pots and pans have in recent years sued DuPont claiming the company failed to disclose possible health risks and earlier this year a group of scientific advisers to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended that C8 be considered a likely carcinogen.

The Delaware based company is currently funding a study to ascertain if there is a link between C8 and health problems among 70,000 West Virginia and Ohio residents who drank water contaminated with the chemical.

The study settled a class-action lawsuit filed in 2001 by residents living in six water districts.

Apparently C8 accumulates in the blood, and preliminary results of area residents involved in the health screening show they have 25 times more of the chemical in their blood than the rest of the population.

However the study released this week by epidemiologists has found no increased mortality risk in workers exposed to PFOA.

The results showed lower mortality rates than those found in both West Virginia and the U.S. general population and it seems were consistent with mortality rates in comparable workers from other DuPont plants, a population generally considered more healthy than the population at large.

While only 12 people died of kidney cancer, Sax said the finding couldn't be ignored but the 20 diabetes deaths could be attributed to living habits in West Virginia which leads the nation in adult diabetes at 10.4 percent.

Researchers looked at heart disease because a 2005 study of 1,000 the Washington works employees who worked closest to C8 were found to have increased levels of total cholesterol and a slightly raised risk of heart disease.

The study was reviewed by an external board of scientists, and examined the occupations of 6,027 people who had worked at DuPont's Washington works plant between 1948 until the end of 2002.

It also examined the causes of death for those who had died over the 54-year period and compared the mortality rates to those found in three groups: Other DuPont workers, West Virginia residents, and members of the U.S. general population.

Dr. Sol Sax, the chief medical officer for DuPont says if health effects were associated with PFOA exposure, they almost certainly would be more prevalent among employees who are occupationally exposed to the compound or who handle it regularly.

He says the study will add significantly to the existing body of research into the effects of exposure to PFOA and shows death rates among workers are no higher than at seven DuPont plants in other states, the population of West Virginia or the rest of the nation's population.

He says the study adds support to a conclusion that there are no human health effects known to be caused by PFOA.

A science panel looking at a possible link between C8 and human health risks has said it could take up to four years to get results.