Teflon Is Forever

For decades now DuPont has sold us what many would consider a nonstick wonder, but what DuPont has failed to tell us is that Teflon sticks to us. This is because Teflon gets its nonstick properties from a toxic, nearly indestructible chemical that is called pfoa, or perfluorooctanoic acid. Nevertheless, Teflon is used in numerous products today, including cookware, children's pajamas and takeout coffee cups.

The Environmental Protection Agency has just finished up a study that shows that pfoa is a human carcinogen. It can be found in the bloodstream of almost every American, even in newborn babies wherein it causes decreased birth weight and head circumference. So, while DuPont claims that Teflon makes "cleanup a breeze," cleansing ourselves from the chemical pfoa is nearly impossible.

DuPont has always known a lot more about Teflon than they would like to let on. In fact, after just 2 years of operation the EPA fined the company $16.5 million for having covered up their knowledge about Teflon for decades. What was the knowledge that was covered up? It was knowledge of the fact that pfoa can cause cancer, birth defects, immune suppression, developmental problems and liver damage. This is just one of the many lawsuits that has been brought against DuPont in regards to their use of Teflon.

So, how do we as humans inhale Teflon? Well, it can be found in a wide variety of places, including: when rugs and upholstery that have been treated with Teflon begin to wear down; 70% of the cookware that is sold; the paper that pizza slices are placed upon; microwave popcorn bags, ice cream cartons and other food packages; mascara; dental floss; and some personal care products. Of course, there is also pfoa in Scotchgard but they have stopped using the chemical now that they know that it contaminates entire populations of people. However, if you have ever used Scotchgard on your carpeting, it is still there.

Unfortunately, DuPont and its supporters like to deny these facts. They seem to think that by avoiding these issues they will just magically go away. These people will tell you that there is no health threat from their products even though lab tests show otherwise. While DuPont claims that they are going to get rid of people's need for Teflon products, all they are doing is taking out ads claiming that Teflon actually make lives better, safer and healthier.

Why put CO2 into the air whenever it can be buried

Throughout the world people are trying to figure out how to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. This is because these things are capable of changing the climate. One thing these people are trying to do is capture CO2 before it enters into the atmosphere. By compressing it into a liquid and pumping it underground it may do a lot less harm. This is important because 33 billion tons of CO2 are created each year worldwide - 8.8 billion tons of it comes from the United States alone. Of course, this has created a lot of unhealthy changes in our atmosphere. A lot of people are recognizing this today but yet this problem remains unsolved because of how difficult it is. Having this knowledge is the first step that must be taken the next step is stopping the creation of any new power plants that are not carbon- sequestration- ready. There does need to be a lot more research done in this area before this can happen though. However the new laws and regulations are quite helpful in steering people in this direction. Currently there is legislation under review in Congress about this issue. Hopefully it will be the first step in aggressively tackling this issue. This time it needs to go past talking and be implemented though. Otherwise people are going to lose faith and we will get nowhere it managing this CO2 issue.