US company behind Teflon tries to block EU’s forever chemicals ban, claims NGO

13 comments

1. Of curse, money matter more than our lives and health.

2. Based EU

3. This is called capitalism

4. I don’t understand why EU fine our companies. Please, mommy trumpy do something. The EU is being mean and didn’t do nothing.

5. I got a cast iron pan a while back. Not going back to non stick pans, that’s for sure

6. American chemicals producer Chemours, the group behind the Teflon brand, has been lobbying harder than any other business to water down a proposed European Union ban on harmful PFAS chemicals, according to a new [report](https://corporateeurope.org/en/chemical-reaction?auHash=zGICnQcR7QZ8flMOfCBSTCHl0eYPi34dPXWljATerp0) American chemicals producer Chemours, the group behind the Teflon brand, has been lobbying harder than any other business to water down a proposed European Union ban on harmful PFAS chemicals, according to a new [report](https://corporateeurope.org/en/chemical-reaction?auHash=zGICnQcR7QZ8flMOfCBSTCHl0eYPi34dPXWljATerp0) by non-profit the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO).

   The chemicals in question — colloquially dubbed “forever chemicals,” because they don’t break down naturally — have been linked to a host of health conditions, including cancer, liver damage and decreased fertility. Studies have found the substances in everything from [rainwater](https://www.su.se/english/news/it-s-raining-pfas-even-in-antarctica-and-on-the-tibetan-plateau-rainwater-is-unsafe-to-drink-1.620735) and %5Bsoil%5D(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7654437/#:~:text=It%20is%20noteworthy%20that%20soil,a%20significant%20reservoir%20for%20PFAS.) to [breastmilk](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c06978) and [brain tissue](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10446502/#:~:text=PFAS%20cross%20the%20blood%E2%80%93brain,accumulate%20greater%20amounts%20of%20PFAS.).

   Chemours has held “more high-level meetings on this topic with the Commission than any other group,” and “more than doubled its declared lobby expenditure in the past year,” the CEO report said. Its tactics include mobilizing other sectors to “raise the alarm on the proposal” in meetings with the Commission and “promoting a weaker scheme as an alternative to a PFAS ban,” it writes.

   Chemours said it is “committed to Europe and its future Clean Industrial Deal and has no intention of slowing down the regulatory process,” in a statement to the non-profit.

   “Like NGOs and representatives of the civil society, companies and trade associations are also encouraged to submit information, data, facts, figures and positions to regulators and policymakers so they can make informed and data-backed decisions,” Chemours said.

   PFAS are used in countless everyday products, including cell phones, contact lenses, and sportswear — as well as in manufacturing technologies deemed critical to Europe’s future. | Nicolas Guyonnet/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

   PFAS are used in [countless everyday products](https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2020/em/d0em00291g), including cell phones, contact lenses, and sportswear — as well as in manufacturing technologies deemed critical to Europe’s future, including semiconductors, batteries and various climate technologies.

   Industry-heavy German states are also lobbying against strict bans and calling for certain sectors to be allowed to continue using the chemicals, in an effort to protect a struggling chemicals sector, the report found. The findings underscore the EU’s internal dilemma between boosting the bloc’s struggling industry, and protecting communities from potentially toxic substances.

7. There is no reason to use Teflon anymore.

   There has always been cast iron, but now there are a lot of types of ceramic pans if you want a non-stick one.

8. There are already PFAs bans in many US states with it rolling out across all of them. GoreTex for example have been changing what they use for water repellents. So Teflon had better catch up.

9. I hope the EU passes it.

10. Stay strong E.U. Stick to your guns.

11. Chemours [has been found liable](https://nltimes.nl/2023/09/27/chemours-liable-damage-caused-pfas-dordrecht-surrounds-court-rules) for the, what could be considered complete, destruction of the eco-systems around the Dutch city of Dordrecht.

    So yeah, one more industry that is really happy with the ham-fisted diplomacy of the orange turd.

12. >Industry-heavy German states are also lobbying against strict bans and calling for certain sectors to be allowed to continue using the chemicals, in an effort to protect a struggling chemicals sector, the report found.

    Disappointed, but not surprised.

13. It becomes more and more apprent that US corporations = pure evil. They lost the plot being run only for profit, being totally un-regulated and becoming more and more morally grey.

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