Trace Levels of PFOA and Carpet, No More!

A lot has been written and said in various media outlets over the last several years regarding the trace amounts of Perfluoroactanoic Acid (PFOA) which have been found in some products, including in some instances carpet.

Some of the stories have been well-balanced with factual information, while others have been less than forthcoming with all the facts, leaving the consumer with a lot of scientific garble to try to wade through without presenting much of an overall picture.

The reason I wanted to talk specifics about PFOA today stems from the fact that the chemistry used in providing stain-blocking and resistance properties in carpet today no longer presents the unintended by-product of PFOA in it. A Carpet and Rug Institute survey confirmed that as of January 2009, the carpet industry in the U.S. had ceased using the C-8 chemistry that produced the unintended traces of PFOA found in carpet treatments.

Of course, there is more to the story than just that, so let me start from the beginning.

PFOA is not, and has never been, an ingredient used to make carpet. It was an unintended reaction byproduct present at trace levels in some carpets. Levels that were so minute that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has said there “is no reason for consumers to stop using any consumer or industrial related products because of concerns about PFOA.”

When CRI found out that the carpet industry was out of the C-8 chemistry, we didn’t make a big news splash out of it. It was our reasoning that even when the industry did utilize the process that produced these very small traces of PFOA, based on all the information available, there was never any health or safety risk. The fact that the industry moved away from the C-8 process is directly attributable to a voluntary stewardship program with those companies that manufacture PFOA. As the industry move away from the C-8 chemistry illustrates, this program has been very successful.

Of course, this is and has been the mantra of the carpet industry for most of the last two decades. When it comes to an environmental issue, the carpet industry is, has, and will continue to do the right thing. In this case, the right thing to do was to find a process that eliminated any of the controversy, despite the fact every piece of scientific evidence and data showed there was never any health or safety issue involved with the product.

Here is a link to WSBTV.com's 5/18/2009 program featuring John Pruitt on the subject of Tainted Water and PFOAs. He interviews CRI's Werner Braun on the subject.

We are confident the EPA and other regulatory agencies will continue to monitor developments and ensure consumer product safety. We expect that CRI and the industry will cooperate with them, as always, regarding any issues related to this industry.

~ James

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