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The association of PTFE with PFAS makes perfect sense. Part of the manufacturing process of Teflon (brand name PTFE) involves (involved?) GenX, which is reactiv

by dqv 2y ago

The association of PTFE with PFAS makes perfect sense. Part of the manufacturing process of Teflon (brand name PTFE) involves (involved?) GenX, which is reactive and was being dumped our drinking water supply. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemours, a spin-off from DuPont, which originally discovered the compound in 1938. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GenX https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GenX GenX chemicals are used as replacements for PFOA for manufacturing fluoropolymers such as Teflon In June of 2017, The Wilmington Star-News broke the story that GenX was found in the Cape Fear River – the drinking water supply for 500,000 people.

mrob 2y ago
It's not just "association"; PTFE literally is a PFAS. My point is there's a major different between PFAS polymers and PFAS small molecules. From https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/source/hsdb/833 https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/source/hsdb/833 : "Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8, is another man-made chemical. It is used in the process of making Teflon and similar chemicals (known as fluorotelomers), although it is burned off during the process and is not present in significant amounts in the final products." [GenX is very similar.] And there's no technical reason why manufacturing PFAS polymers necessarily has to result in PFAS small molecule pollution. The waste could be captured and treated with processes such as supercritical water oxidation. This would of course cost more, but seeing as there's no good substitute for PFAS polymers, I'd happily pay more for them. Pollution, like all externalities, is a market failure, and it's the government's job to fix market failures with regulation.
- dqv 2y ago
  Gambling with people’s health for a third time to “correct a market failure” is an incredibly grim proposition. Oh it causes cancer? We’ll try again with a new chemical! New chemical in the water supply? Oopsie, we’ll capture it with this next attempt!
  - mrob 2y ago
    I'm in favor of banning release of small molecule PFAS altogether. I don't see how that's "gambling".

by dqv 2y ago

mrob 2y ago

It's not just "association"; PTFE literally is a PFAS. My point is there's a major different between PFAS polymers and PFAS small molecules. From https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/source/hsdb/833 https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/source/hsdb/833 : "Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8, is another man-made chemical. It is used in the process of making Teflon and similar chemicals (known as fluorotelomers), although it is burned off during the process and is not present in significant amounts in the final products." [GenX is very similar.] And there's no technical reason why manufacturing PFAS polymers necessarily has to result in PFAS small molecule pollution. The waste could be captured and treated with processes such as supercritical water oxidation. This would of course cost more, but seeing as there's no good substitute for PFAS polymers, I'd happily pay more for them. Pollution, like all externalities, is a market failure, and it's the government's job to fix market failures with regulation.

dqv 2y ago
Gambling with people’s health for a third time to “correct a market failure” is an incredibly grim proposition. Oh it causes cancer? We’ll try again with a new chemical! New chemical in the water supply? Oopsie, we’ll capture it with this next attempt!
- mrob 2y ago
  I'm in favor of banning release of small molecule PFAS altogether. I don't see how that's "gambling".