Looking for the "Teflon Chemical" in Building Materials

Perfluorooctanoic acid, better known as PFOA or C8, has appeared in blood samples in polar bears, pregnant women across the U.S., and Chinese villagers. It is extremely resistant to breakdown, it is bioaccumulative, and an advisory panel to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called it a “likely carcinogen” (see EBN Vol. 14, No. 8). PFOA has been called the “Teflon^® chemical” in the press, because it is used to make the popular nonstick coating on cookware sold under that trademark, but, as an essential processing aid for a group of fluoropolymers, it is also used in the production of a variety of building products. Should the green building community be concerned about PFOA?
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