3M Co. announced Tuesday it would stop making many of its well-known Scotchgard stain-repellent products after finding that one of the chemical compounds used to make the products persists in the environment and is found in the bloodstream of people worldwide.
The substance, perfluorooctane sulfonate, is released in minute quantities by products as various as water-repellent coatings and fire-suppressing foams. It is made almost entirely by 3M, the huge St. Paul-based firm known formally as Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co.
Studies have not demonstrated any hazards to human health from the compound, known as PFOS. Like many synthetic compounds, however, it has proved toxic to laboratory animals at high doses.
"We have tested it pretty widely--not only in this country but in other countries, as well--and it's found in very low levels everywhere we test," said Bill Coyne, 3M's senior vice president for research and development. "It is persistent and pervasive, and that is the reason we don't want to continue to add it to the environment."
"Persistent and pervasive" man-made compounds have been among the biggest environmental headaches. . . . For some, such as the pesticide DDT and the insulating fluid PCB, the toxic effects are clear. For others, there is no clear hazard. However, any compound that doesn't easily degrade is a source of worry.
"It's not a rare occurrence that we do have persistent chemicals in the environment, but it's an area that is very much a concern to the agency," said Stephen Johnson of the Environmental Protection Agency's office of prevention, pesticides and toxic substances. He said EPA supported 3M's decision.
Gina Solomon, a physician and senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, praised the company for "removing the product before there is absolute scientific proof of harm. . . . If companies had taken the same kind of precautionary action with DDT and PCB, then we wouldn't be in the same bad situation we're in now."
PFOS has been used since the 1950s, and 3M health officials have been measuring its concentrations in its workers since the 1970s, as well as monitoring their health.
"There have been no health effects in our employee population," said Larry Zobel, a physician and the company's corporate medical director. "People should know that these workers have no health effects related to these materials--that is the bottom line of 30 years of medical monitoring."
