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“persistent” – it resists safely going away.
Its stick-to-itiveness and endemic cast
makes the associated problems formi-
dable. Yet its tenacious stability is the
reason why PFOA and its family of like
chemicals are so extremely useful.
The secret to the functionality of this
class of fluorocarbon compounds lies in
the strong chemical bond between the
fluorine atom (the fluorine in fluoro),
the carbon atom and fluorine’s unique
character. The resulting fluoro-carbon
bond is persistently stable in many
environments. Within this group, also
referred to as perfluorocarbons (PFC),
a class of industrial chemicals was cre-
ated. One of these compounds, perfluo-
rooctanoatic acid (PFOA), also known
by its contraction C8, is used as a build-
ing block in the production of fluo-
ropolymers. Another widely used PFC
is perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS),
a powerful surfactant whose range of
usefulness includes functioning like
detergents, emulsifiers, dispersants and
foaming agents. Collectively, this group
of PFCs includes C5, C6, C6 sulfonate,
C7 and homologs (longer chains of the
same base unit common to these par-
ticular PFCs) C9 through 12.
As it turns out, the outdoor recreation
industry has been using PFCs for almost
as long as they have been around. PFOS
is found within the many textiles used in
making apparel, tents, sleeping bags and
backpacks. PFOS helps keep outdoor
fabrics water resistant as durable water
repellents (DWR). 3M’s Scotchgard was
one of the best known PFOS-derived
DWRs, bringing stain and water repel-
lency to a wide range of consumer
products including furniture, curtains,
floor coverings and backpacking gear.
“Garments and equipment treated
with fluoro-technology also have a
longer useful life, therefore reducing
energy and water used to manufacture
replacements,” says the FlouroCouncil,
a gobal industry council for fluoro-tech-
nology. “They also require less frequent
laundering, lower wash temperature
and shorter drying time, further reduc-
ing use of water and energy.”
PFOA derivatives were exploited for
their low friction, non-stick, heat-re-
sistant properties particularly with the
invention of Teflon. Is there a household
in the late 1960s not taken up by the
space-aged miracle of non-stick frying
pans? The space age also saw the use
of Teflon in space suits and eventually
in other technology spin-offs such as
in the waterproof laminate membranes
Gore-Tex and eVENT.
For the outdoor retail industry, it is
pretty clear PFCs are pretty special, in-
deed, essential to the integrity of many
outdoor recreation products.
Globally, fluoro-technology materials
and products specific to the outdoor ap-
parel and equipment industry generate
a total of about $27 billion annually in
economic output, says to the Ameri-
can Chemistry Council. Their ubiquity
requires the replacement solutions or
options to be carefully vetted. Given that
it is 2015, will the pact made by the ma-
jor producers of PFOA reach the EPA’s
goal of eliminating them as set out in the
2010/15 Stewardship Program? How
will the new products balance perfor-
mance with environmental compliance?
According to Jessica Bowman,
executive director of the FluoroCouncil,
Atomic Backland Carbon Light
Inside
Outdoor
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Spring
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