You're Invited . . . .

On Thursday, Feb. 7, the Evergreen Arts & Humanities Series at Washington State Community College will present a lecture by Callie Lyons, a journalist in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The lecture will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Graham Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Lyons book, “Stain-resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: the Hidden Dangers of C8,” provides an evenhanded examination of the scientific evidence on all sides of the issue in language that is straightforward and easy to understand.

Her lecture includes old footage from the classic game show "To Tell the Truth" featuring Teflon inventor and native Ohioan, Roy Plunkett. Lyons intends to involve the audience in a kitchen experiment or two. These experiments will help even small children understand how C8 works in the manufacturing process and how difficult it could be to find a replacement substance.

According to Lyons, most consumers at large don't identify themselves as being contaminated. Items like Post-it notes, McDonald’s French fries, or the delicious and distinctive aroma of a bag of microwave popcorn all possess traces of C8. According to Lyons, most people don't realize that Ohioans have shaped the discussion and the controversy over Teflon and C8 from the beginning.

Lyons considers herself a historian, not necessarily an environmentalist, telling the story of how C8 has impacted on our lives. Her journalism career includes television, newspaper, and radio journalism, and she is currently the news director for WMOA/WJAW radio in Marietta, Ohio. Lyons work concerning C8 has earned her a reputation as a fair-minded writer concerned with the environment and equally concerned with the potential impact of negative journalism on the economy of the area she calls home. Recently, Lyons received the Uncovering the Truth Award from Ohio Citizen Action and the Associated Press of Ohio First Place distinction for Best Business Writer 2006.

(Source: WSCC Press Release)

Italian Study Raises New Questions About C8 Exposure from Teflon

A new study from Italy seems to indicate that C8 migrates into food from Teflon more easily than estimated by U.S. scientists.

Although PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid can be found in the blood of most people in very small amounts, it's been claimed for some time that Teflon was not a significant contributor to human exposure. It's also been thought that C8 migration into food from Teflon coated products was most likely to occur once the cookware had been damaged in some way or when the coating began to degrade. The new findings seem to fly in the face of those old claims.

The Italian study concludes that C8 migration into food can "take place in the first phases of container use and not only from containers abused by kitchen tools or otherwise scratched". The researchers concluded that the study does not agree with prior results because the newer study uses a better extraction system.