Tag: environmental hazard

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Scotchguard your life?

What an event. Finially I’ve found a couch for our pad that both fit in the room, and up the stairs…through the door and hallway. Oh and it fits a room motif for white accessories and accents. For over a year now, I’ve been irritably complaining about the uncomfortable bar bench we’ve been using for our communal “living” room comfort seating. Then with an ugly saag paneer color, and now the room is brightened with a white glow from our single arm rest lounger in the corner. The next fear is my first wine stain or chicken wing drop on the pillows…. So I went to 4 stores yesterday looking for the infamous Scotchguard. The master substance that will repel grim, spills and apparently unwanted dirty ex-girlfriends…

To no avail… Kmart, National Whole Saler, Duane Reade and even CVS do not carry it…

So I took to the internet only to find this:

3M and Scotchgard: “Heroes of Chemistry” or a 20-year coverup?

To summarize the link: “Consider 3M’s Scotchgard coatings, surely one of America’s best-known chemical industry brand names. It is universally recognized by consumers as the magical substance that repels water and stains from clothes, carpets and furniture. Hardly anyone knows Scotchgard has been used for years in the wrappings for an eye-opening list of packaged and fast foods. ”

Now what I found out: “Scotchgard ingredients belong to a large family of chemicals that degrade to form a chemical called PFOS, or perfluorooctane sulfonate…..

In the 50 years between the start of commercial production and the phaseout announcement, many millions of pounds of PFOS chemicals have entered the environment and now contaminate the blood of people and wildlife to an extraordinary extent.

Although research is still evolving, PFOS is known to damage the liver and to produce severe birth defects in lab animals, among other health effects.

And of course: 3M has manufactured PFOS commercially since 1948, and in 2000 was expected to produce more than 10 million pounds of the compound for use in Scotchgard products.

Quitely 3M on May 16, 2000, 3M announced with a vague, one-page press release that it would phase out of the PFOS market by the end of 2002 because of concerns over what the company said was new information–that the chemical had been “detected broadly at extremely low levels in the environment and in people.”

Great! So what other cancer causing substance can I pick up to protect my white couch from my dirty NYC blackend dogs…

UPDATE: Despite all my formal training as an Enviro Engineer and my own personal desire to do my part to concerve our environment, I spotted the Scotchgard at a small hardware store in the West Village – bought a can and used it on my couch – It said “New & Improved” although how something can be improved upon if its a new product is beyond me. I figured there was probably some policy for 3M to sell out of all the stock on the market anyway, and by not buying it, it doesn’t hinder 3M, just the small shops that have taken in all their stock. Can I say I’m doing some part by buying up the product and preventing someone else from getting cancer? Well, look out for my cancer blog in 2020 when I compare my $13 a can investment to the thousands in financial and physical pain I will suffer from use of the product in my home.

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China’s air: Worst in the World

The UK Guardian published an article about the latest awards for worst in the world. This one goes to China for having the worst air conditions:

Satellite data reveals Beijing as air pollution capital of world Oct 31st, 2005 [UK Guardian]

As it gears up to host the 2008 Olympic Games Beijing has been awarded an unwelcome new accolade: the air pollution capital of the world.

Satellite data has revealed that the city is one of the worst environmental victims of China’s spectacular economic growth, which has brought with it air pollution levels that are blamed for more than 400,000 premature deaths a year.

According to the European Space Agency, Beijing and its neighbouring north-east Chinese provinces have the planet’s worst levels of nitrogen dioxide, which can cause fatal damage to the lungs.

An explosive increase in car ownership is blamed for a sharp rise in unhealthy emissions. In the past five years the number of vehicles clogging the capital’s streets has more than doubled to nearly 2.5m. It is expected to top the 3m mark by the start of the Olympics in 2008.

Alarm about the perilous state of the environment has gathered pace in recent years. China is the world’s second-largest producer of greenhouse gases, and the World Bank has warned it is home to 16 of the planet’s 20 most air-polluted cities.

According to the European satellite data, pollutants in the sky over China have increased by about 50% during the past 10 years. Senior officials warn that worse is still to come. At a recent seminar Zhang Lijun, deputy director of the environmental protection agency, said that pollution levels could more than quadruple within 15 years unless the country can slow the rise in energy consumption and automobile use.

A recently published study, conducted by the Chinese Academy on Environmental Planning, blamed air pollution for 411,000 premature deaths – mostly from lung and heart-related diseases – in 2003. It said that a third of China’s urban residents were exposed to harmful levels of pollution. More than 100 million people live in cities, such as Beijing, where the air is considered “very dangerous”.

The political implications are also becoming more apparent. Health concerns, particularly regarding cancer and birth defects thought to be caused by chemical factories, have been a major factor in a recent wave of protests. Conservation groups say acid rain falls on a third of China’s territory and 70% of rivers and lakes are so full of toxins they can no longer be used for drinking water.

“There’s so much pollution in the air now that if it weren’t for our lungs there’d be no place to put it all.” ~ Robert Orben (US magician and comedy writer)