Fabric Protectors are Toxic
Printed From: Carpet Cleaning Forum
Category: Carpet Cleaners Discussion
Forum Name: Scotchgard and Teflon Fabric Protection
Forum Description: Discuss scotchguard and teflon fabric protection technologies
URL: https://www.kleenkuip.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3766
Printed Date: 25/April/2024 at 3:59am
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Topic: Fabric Protectors are Toxic
Posted By: Tybie
Subject: Fabric Protectors are Toxic
Date Posted: 12/May/2007 at 10:36am
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If you're using fabric protectors professionally, you should be aware of the toxicity issues. This started coming out in around '99.
They're saying Stain-repellants are as persistant chemicals as DDT. They do not break down in the environment. And they stay in human tissue. It's stored in muscle tissue.
I stopped using them when I found out more. The extra money might be nice, but knowing I am giving people cancer isn't too cool with me.
If this stuff causes rare cancers and other effects on people, you may be libel for future lawsuits also.
Here's a quote from a recent newspaper article:
"PFOA -- a key processing agent in making nonstick and stain-resistant materials -- has been linked to cancer and birth defects in animals and is in the blood of 95 percent of Americans, including pregnant women. It has also been found in the blood of marine organisms and Arctic polar bears." CBC. Marketplace did an excellant story on it. The web content is well done. The 12 min video is here:
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/teflon20050320.ram - http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/teflon20050320.ram
The full CBC Marketplace content is here:
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/index.html - http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/index.html
CBC got alot of their info from this organization, the Environmental Working Group.
For Immediate Release: January 30, 2006 Expert Panel Urges EPA to Strengthen Safety Review of Teflon ChemicalMajority Calls Widespread Pollutant "Likely Human Carcinogen"http://www.ewg.org/issues/siteindex/issues.php?issueid=5014 - http://www.ewg.org/issues/siteindex/issues.php?issueid=5014 |
Replies:
Posted By: aqualityassured
Date Posted: 13/December/2008 at 7:25pm
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then why do Dupont Teflon claim there are no cfc's?
------------- _________"We Know How To Clean!" http://aqualityassured.com/default.aspx - Cleaning Services Atlanta http://aqualityassured.com/carpetcleaningatlanta.aspx - Carpet Cleaners Atlanta |
Posted By: Tybie
Date Posted: 14/December/2008 at 9:18am
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It isn't cfc's in Carpet Protector. It's PFOA.
PFOA is a persistant chemical, breathed into you body in small amounts, it accumulates in your body. Almost as persistant a chemical as DDT. The same properties that keep in on fabric, and frying pans (teflon), make it not bio-degrade in your body. It's in your blood right now, it's in polar bears blood in the arctic. And it's a suspected carcinogen. When people like us who use it everyday start dying of cancer from it, then we'll know for sure. Definitly not worth the risk for me. Cancer isn't such a great way to go.
I don't use it, haven't used it for years. When I tell customers about it, they understand I'm in it for them and not just trying to make money from them. This helps create a sense of trust, and good regular customers after that.
Here's an article + video on CBC's Marketplace, really good info.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/index.html - http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/index.html
Ty
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Posted By: duckcountry
Date Posted: 15/December/2008 at 1:48am
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I have been selling it and using it since 1974. No cancer. Early teflon pans were more of a worry because the teflon would end up in the food. Hench plastic spatulas now and better processes in making these pans. I'm a green cleaner, proud of it too but I am not buying into the teflon scare that has been going on for years without proof. Tell you what - when it takes a special hazard chemical license to apply it, I'll stop doing it. And I will stop buying carpet and switch to hardwood floors. Hope you use only stainless steel, copper and cast iron pots and pans. Otherwise it sure is hypocritical of you to say you won't apply it but you don't mind using it. ------------- Are you in a high paying business or are you just a self employed low paid grunt who thinks this business provides dignity? |
Posted By: Tybie
Date Posted: 15/December/2008 at 7:22am
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Fabric protectors are long chain, man-made polymers. Great for industrial lubricants. Great to stay on a frying pan, not burning off with extremely high temperatures. But they do break down over time, small amounts becoming dust in homes, which we breathe in. Ever get scotch guard 'boogers' in your nose at the end of the day after spraying alot of it ? That tells you that you're breathing it into your lungs. One of the problems with this particular family of chemicals is that they accumulate in peoples' muscle tissue, not the typical fat tissue deposits that alot of chemicals end up in, in out bodies.
Upon learning about all this, as well as stopping using it out of concern for my customers, my own health, and the health of my family, I did throw out my teflon frying pan, and went with a cast iron one. A little iron in your diet is good for you.
I've met older house and vehicle painters who said things very much like you, in a defensive sort of knee-jerk reaction. My Dad worked in a pulp mill surrounded by chemicals. Alot of his co-workers his age, in their 60's, are getting cancer now. They talked alot like you when they thought their livlihoods depnded on these chemicals. One in particular comes to mind. He was a painter, worked for the city painting signs and vehicles. I did his carpets in his house. We started talking about this sort of thing. He had had 3 or 4 bouts of cancer, was lucky enough to be in remission at the time. If he had of had google at the time he was not questioning the chemicals he was using, he might be alot better off now.
You mentioned lawsuits. Dupont had to get sued in order to get them to freely share information they had known about for 30 or 40 years about their stain repellants. 16.5 million for withholding internal scientific reports.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/murmurs/archives/2005_december.html#dupont - http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/murmurs/archives/2005_december.html#dupont
DuPont to pay record fine for Teflon chemical complaint The Environmental Protection Agency reached a $16.5 million settlement with the DuPont Co. yesterday over the company's failure to report possible health risks associated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical compound used to make Teflon, the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR2005121402275.html - reports http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/index.html">
The EPA has been wrestling with DuPont for 16 months for not turning over evidence to the government from as far back as 1981 about the chemical substance. The documents show that the compound -- which is used to produce non-stick and stain-resistant materials like http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/everywhere.html - Teflon -- can be transferred from a woman to her baby via the placenta. Other studies showed rats dying after inhaling the chemical. The compound has been http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/pfoa.html - found in the blood of 95% of Americans tested. It persists in the environment indefinitely and migrates long distances in the air. Researchers have also found it http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/teflon/reach.html - in the blood of polar bears near the North Pole . The settlement is subject to approval by the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board. DuPont, which reported $27 billion in sales last year, does not acknowledge any guilt or liability in the settlement. via: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR2005121402275.html - Washington Post |
The fine is the largest civil administrative penalty the http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/68b5f2d54f3eefd28525701500517fbf/fdcb2f665cac66bb852570d7005d6665!OpenDocument - EPA has ever obtained, and includes a $10.25 million penalty and a pledge by http://www2.dupont.com/Media_Center/en_US/daily_news/article20051215.html - DuPont to spend an additional $6.25 million on environmental projects.Posted By: duckcountry
Date Posted: 15/December/2008 at 6:22pm
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"possible health risks" means there exists the possibility. No indication of a PROBABLE the outcome is more than likely. There is possibility that the plane you fly on next will crash, not a probability. A possibility exists that the bridge you drive over will collapse, not a probability. Heck, there is a possibility that I might win the super lotto, no one said a probability. I understand that if you dive head first off a 40 story building their exists a probability that you will die. I don't think anyone would argue that it is just a possibility. If the stuff was bad for you the environment it would be an illegal material to be used in the production of carpet. And if you are so worried, wear a breathing mask. The customer isn't 3 feet from the end of your nozzle wand when you produce an aerated form of the chemical, you are. For the customer it is in the carpet doing its binding thing with the fibers. They are at no great health risk. I hope you don't mind me sound like a broken record but since you could not by the naked eye tell the difference between a spec of teflon or a grain of crushed pepper, do you now use ONLY Aluminum, Copper, Stainless Steel, Cast Iron, Corningware and glass cookware? "Other studies showed rats dying after inhaling the chemical." Based on the way most of these tests are done on lab animals it would be safe to say that they were exposed to a full dose of the chemical and were deprived of oxygen. Did anyone spray Scotsguard at the rat every day? No, they practice a form of science known as "Rush To Judgment". Everything else I have heard of like Saccharin for example used in tests on rats the same way resulted in death or cancer. Take everything you hear or read with a grain of salt. ------------- Are you in a high paying business or are you just a self employed low paid grunt who thinks this business provides dignity? |
Posted By: duckcountry
Date Posted: 15/December/2008 at 6:27pm
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One other thing - let us know when you find a chemical that does the same work to the same degree of excellence and is save for everyone AND passes the EPA tests according to the EPA, not the manufacturer who is profit driven to say or not say whatever benefits their bottom line.
------------- Are you in a high paying business or are you just a self employed low paid grunt who thinks this business provides dignity? |
Posted By: duckcountry
Date Posted: 15/December/2008 at 11:53pm
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"Another fascinating study involved measuring perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in food packaging where perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are commonly used. Of the different food packagings investigated (including hamburger wrappers, french fry boxes, paper plates, dental floss, etc.), microwave popcorn bags were shown to leach extremely high levels of PFOA into the popcorn, such that consuming one bag of popcorn per month could account for as much as 20% of the average levels of PFOA found in human blood (see section on PFOA, perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), and perfluorinated surfactants for more details). In addition, many of the new exposure studies are focusing on chiral contaminants, where enantiomer-specific uptake and metabolism can occur. For example, papers include the measurement of chiral toxaphene congeners in eggs from laying hens and the enantioselective elimination of toxaphene metabolites in fish." Check out the whole article at http://isis.ku.dk/kurser/blob.aspx?feltid=211671 - http://isis.ku.dk/kurser/blob.aspx?feltid=211671 Say goodbye to take-out, fast food restaurants, some dental floss brands and - oh, yeah - Microwave popcorn which the report said "such that consuming one bag of popcorn per month could account for as much as 20% of the average levels of PFOA found in human blood" - and that is only one bag per month. Looks like the whole world is closing in on your attempt to single out the source. ------------- Are you in a high paying business or are you just a self employed low paid grunt who thinks this business provides dignity? |
Posted By: tokmik
Date Posted: 17/March/2009 at 12:54am
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I never knew there's such toxic matters on fabric protectors. Thanks for the info. - Gilbert Carpet Cleaning
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Posted By: CompleteSeal
Date Posted: 08/April/2009 at 2:38am
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Gentleman and Ladies,
Please allow me to introduce http://www.completeseal.com - CompleteSeal to you. "Recognized Worldwide As The Best" because the product has a long history in the Aerospace Industry and worldwide Independent laboratory test results backing all of its claims. NO FLUOROCHEMS OR TEFLON, the base carrier (a high-grade organic OMS) has an EPA rating of GRAS (generally recognized as safe) The proprietary protectant ingredients are rated NON-TOXIC AND NON-ALLERGENIC
This product is not only better (and you can therefore CHARGE more for applying it), it is EXTREMELY USER FRIENDLY. Little to no residue on hard surfaces / wicks thru clear to the backing of the carpet (no raking necessary) / no mixing or separation or freezing issues / dries in minutes / can be left in the canister indefinitely / ORIGNIALLY DISIGNED IN ENGLAND FOR ORIENTAL WOOL RUGS, but can be used on every fabric including silk, suedes and smooth leathers. (Ask for our suggested pricing)
One bit of Bad News: We have a cap on the number of carpet cleaning outlets in each state that will be able to use this product.
Thanks for your time.
Cheers,
http://CompleteSeal.com - CompleteSeal.com ------------- CompleteSeal.com Recognized Worldwide As The Best / Boeing Certified Test Report / 20 year track record in the Aerospace Industry / Stain and near 100% UV Resistance / Independent Lab Tests |