Carcinogenic PFOA still at large until 2015

Ever heard of PFOA? Probably not. It stands for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (also known as "C-8"), which is a man-made substance not occurring naturally in the environment. It's the same chemical compound used to make Teflon, slick coatings for candy wrappers, and other so-called "food grade" plastic coatings. And there are, in all likelihood, deposits of it in your body and mine.

Ever heard of Glenn Evers? Probably not. He's a whistleblower who worked at DuPont Chemical for 22 years, before being laid off in 2002. Evers called attention to the health effects of perfluorinated chemicals being used in food packaging, and charged that DuPont continued to allow its usage, even after being aware that company tests proved the stuff was leaching out at much higher levels than the FDA permits.

When the chemicals from the perfluorinated paper coating are absorbed into the human body, they break down into perfluorooctanoic acid.

Evers, speaking in the Washington Post, said: "We have a chemical that is bioaccumulating in every man, woman and child in America. DuPont stayed in the market strictly to make a buck."

A 2007 study found PFOA linked to low birth weight and smaller head circumference in newborn babies.

So, is anything being done? Probably not. According to the U.S. Government's official EPA website on PFOA, they want to - and I quote - "work toward eliminating emissions and product content by 2015".

Gee. Wow. That's just brilliant. How many people will be dead by 2015 because these scumbags are putting this ban on the slowest possible track? And notice they're not even promising a ban by 2015, they're saying it's just something they're "working towards". Which means precisely nothing.

If PFOA isn't bad, then why even bother calling for its elimination by 2015? And if it is bad, then why would you wait almost a decade to fully eradicate it, while people continue to absorb this dangerous crap? Who made this decision? I want to know his name.