Latest news with #Scotchgard
20-05-2025
- Business
Ethan Allen Offers Peace of Mind for Pet Owners with Stylish, Durable Pet-Friendly Fabrics
Ethan Allen, a leader in classic and contemporary home furnishings, announces the launch of a thoughtfully curated selection of pet-friendly fabrics designed to blend style, comfort, and practicality—perfect for today's pet-loving households. Crafted to meet the unique challenges pets can bring into the home, these fabrics are treated with Scotchgard™ for enhanced durability and stain resistance. The collection allows pet owners to enjoy elegant, stylish furniture—without the worry of muddy paws or fur-covered cushions. The Scotchgard™ treatment forms a protective barrier that repels spills and resists stains caused by common pet accidents. Whether dealing with a tipped water bowl or an unexpected mishap, clean-up is simple and effective—helping upholstery stay fresh and looking new for longer. Beyond stain resistance, the fabrics are tightly woven to withstand everyday wear and tear, including potential scratches or snags from claws. These high-performance materials are engineered to endure without compromising on appearance or comfort. Another thoughtful feature is pet hair resistance. Thanks to the fabric's treated surfaces, fur doesn't cling easily—making it easier to maintain with just a vacuum or a quick wipe-down. As a design-driven brand, Ethan Allen ensures that functionality never comes at the expense of aesthetics. The pet-friendly fabric range is available in a wide variety of colors, textures, and patterns, allowing customers to find upholstery that complements any room and personal style. With this innovative collection, Ethan Allen empowers pet owners to create beautiful, pet-friendly spaces without compromise. Visit Ethan Allen UAE in-store or online to explore the full range. About Ethan Allen: Represented in the UAE by the Alabbar Retail Group, Ethan Allen is a renowned American furniture and home décor brand with over 90 years of heritage. Founded in 1932 in Beecher Falls, Vermont, the brand is known for its timeless craftsmanship, innovative design, and exceptional quality. A global leader in the furniture industry, Ethan Allen offers a wide range of products that combine form and function, enabling customers to create elegant, personalized living spaces. In the UAE, Ethan Allen showrooms are located on Sheikh Zayed Road and in Dubai Hills Mall. Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump EPA gutting limits on certain forever chemicals, delaying deadline to reduce others
In a rare acceptance of regulations adopted during the Biden administration, the Trump-led Environmental Protection Agency is backing the first national limits on a pair of toxic forever chemicals contaminating the drinking water of most Americans. But the Trump EPA wants to eliminate standards for a handful of replacement chemicals that appear to be just as dangerous, if not more so. The EPA's proposed changes, announced Wednesday, reflect bipartisan political concern about perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), used by 3M for decades to make Scotchgard stain repellent, and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), sold to DuPont by 3M to manufacture Teflon coatings for cookware, clothing and wiring. Based on years of research, EPA scientists concluded in 2022 there is no safe level of exposure to either chemical. Yet the Trump administration attempted to throw a bone to chemical manufacturers and water utilities by delaying the agency's deadline to reduce PFOS and PFOA in tap water until 2031, and by gutting limits on four other versions of forever chemicals. What the EPA's partial rollback of the 'forever chemical' drinking water rule means Some of the chemicals build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases and take years to leave the body. Others, known collectively as PFAS — short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — threaten human health because people are constantly exposed to them through consumer products, the food they eat, the air they breathe and the water they drink. Lee Zeldin, President Donald Trump's EPA administrator, vowed last month to take more aggressive action to reduce PFAS exposures. Zeldin and other Trump political appointees also are moving to eliminate the EPA's chemical safety office as part of a dramatic reduction in the agency's personnel and responsibilities. 'We are on a path to uphold the agency's nationwide standards to protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their water,' Zeldin said Wednesday in a statement. 'At the same time, we will work to provide common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance.' Though the original Scotchgard and Teflon chemicals are no longer made in the United States, they are called forever chemicals because they don't break down. Both have been found in the drinking water of 200 million Americans, including 6 out of 10 Illinoisans. Under President Joe Biden, the EPA in April 2024 limited concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in tap water to 4 parts per trillion — an amount the agency said is the lowest at which the chemicals can be accurately detected. Three replacements — PFHxS, PFNA and GenX — were limited to 10 parts per trillion, and the agency required utilities to use a 'hazard index' to monitor mixtures of those chemicals, as well as a fourth, PFBS. 'There's no doubt that these chemicals have been important for certain industries and consumer uses,' then-EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters at time. 'But there's also no doubt that many of these chemicals can be harmful to our health and our environment.' Forever chemicals end up in lakes, rivers and wells after flushing through sewage treatment plants and spreading from factory smokestacks. They also leach out of products such as carpets, clothing, cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, fast-food wrappers, firefighting foam, food packaging, microwave popcorn bags, paper plates, pizza boxes, rain jackets and ski wax. Based on limited testing of tap water by the EPA and some states during the past decade, thousands of utilities still face expensive upgrades to their treatment plants. For now, it appears Chicago and other Illinois communities that depend on Lake Michigan for drinking water will not be required to do anything other than test for the chemicals. Testing by the Chicago Department of Water Management and the Illinois EPA detected PFOS in treated Lake Michigan water but at levels below the federal standards supported by the Trump administration. Peoria, where PFAS have been detected as high as 12.9 parts per trillion, is the largest Illinois city that will need to improve its treatment processes, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of water testing conducted by state investigators. In the Chicago area, the state's testing found PFAS levels exceeded federal standards in Cary, Channahon, Crest Hill, Fox Lake, Lake in the Hills, Marengo, Rockdale, South Elgin and Sugar Grove. All of those communities rely on wells; several have stopped using their most contaminated sources of drinking water. Though the forever chemicals the Trump administration is seeking to exempt have rarely been detected in Illinois, they are huge problems in other states where replacements for the original Scotchgard and Teflon chemicals have been produced, including North Carolina. 'This current administration promised voters it would 'Make America Healthy Again,' but rescinding part of the PFAS drinking water standards does no such thing,' said Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, a community group formed after DuPont and corporate successors contaminated a huge swath of the state with GenX and other PFAS downstream from a manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina. 'It's disrespectful to PFAS-contaminated communities who have suffered debilitating illnesses and devastating losses.' Ken Cook, president of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, called the Trump administration's proposed regulatory changes 'a betrayal of public health at the highest level.' 'The EPA is caving to chemical industry lobbyists and pressure by the water utilities, and in doing so, it's sentencing millions of Americans to drink contaminated water for years to come,' said Cook, whose organization has studied PFAS and advocated for federal regulations since the early 2000s. Forever chemicals: They're in your drinking water and likely your food. Read the Tribune investigation Trade groups for chemical companies and water treatment agencies sued the EPA last year after the agency under Biden adopted the nation's first limits on PFAS in drinking water. Industry groups, as they always do, challenged the science EPA officials relied upon and raised the specter of skyrocketing water bills to comply with the agency's standards. After the Trump EPA's latest announcement, trade groups declined to say if they will drop their lawsuit seeking to eliminate the entire Biden-era regulation. 'The question is not whether to regulate specific substances but how to best do so in a manner that is consistent with the state of the science and focuses on the most pressing drinking water priorities for local communities,' the American Chemistry Council said in a statement. 'EPA has done the right thing for rural and small communities by delaying implementation of the PFAS rule,' Matthew Holmes, CEO of the National Rural Water Association, said in a statement issued by the federal agency. Several lawyers from nonprofit groups noted bipartisan majorities in Congress banned the relaxing of pollution standards in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. But for chemical companies and water utilities, the Trump administration's actions effectively delay limits on PFAS in tap water for years. Also at issue is whether the Trump EPA will attempt to reverse a Biden-era rule adding the original Scotchgard and Teflon chemicals to the federal Superfund law, which would require polluters, rather than taxpayers, to pay for cleanups. A 2022 Chicago Tribune investigation identified 1,654 potential sources of PFAS in Illinois through a national analysis of industry codes that designate the type of products manufactured or used at a particular factory. Only California, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida had more facilities on the list of suspected polluters. The potential liabilities for corporations are staggering. In 2023, 3M brokered a deal last year to pay at least $10.3 billion to settle thousands of claims accusing the company of contaminating public water systems with its forever chemicals. DuPont and two other companies reached a $1.19 billion settlement in the same cases, filed by cities and water systems across the nation. DuPont and 3M earlier paid nearly $2 billion combined to settle other PFAS-related lawsuits without accepting responsibility for contaminated drinking water or diseases suffered by people exposed to the chemicals. The companies have long maintained forever chemicals are not harmful at levels typically found in people. On Tuesday, 3M announced it will pay another $450 million for clean water projects near a New Jersey chemical plant formerly owned by DuPont where PFAS were made and used. Documents obtained during lawsuits show top executives at Minnesota-based 3M knew as early as the 1950s about the harmful effects of forever chemicals the conglomerate pioneered after World War II. 3M didn't begin telling the U.S. EPA what it knew about PFOA and PFOS until 1998 — more than two decades after Congress approved the nation's first chemical safety law.
Chicago Tribune
14-05-2025
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
Trump EPA gutting limits on certain forever chemicals, delaying deadline to reduce others
In a rare acceptance of regulations adopted during the Biden administration, the Trump-led Environmental Protection Agency is backing the first national limits on a pair of toxic forever chemicals contaminating the drinking water of most Americans. But the Trump EPA wants to eliminate standards for a handful of replacement chemicals that appear to be just as dangerous, if not more so. The EPA's proposed changes, announced Wednesday, reflect bipartisan political concern about perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), used by 3M for decades to make Scotchgard stain repellent, and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), sold to DuPont by 3M to manufacture Teflon coatings for cookware, clothing and wiring. Based on years of research, EPA scientists concluded in 2022 there is no safe level of exposure to either chemical. Yet the Trump administration attempted to throw a bone to chemical manufacturers and water utilities by delaying the agency's deadline to reduce PFOS and PFOA in tap water until 2031, and by gutting limits on four other versions of forever chemicals. Some of the chemicals build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases and take years to leave the body. Others, known collectively as PFAS — short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — threaten human health because people are constantly exposed to them through consumer products, the food they eat, the air they breathe and the water they drink. Lee Zeldin, President Donald Trump's EPA administrator, vowed last month to take more aggressive action to reduce PFAS exposures. Zeldin and other Trump political appointees also are moving to eliminate the EPA's chemical safety office as part of a dramatic reduction in the agency's personnel and responsibilities. 'We are on a path to uphold the agency's nationwide standards to protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their water,' Zeldin said Wednesday in a statement. 'At the same time, we will work to provide common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance.' Though the original Scotchgard and Teflon chemicals are no longer made in the United States, they are called forever chemicals because they don't break down. Both have been found in the drinking water of 200 million Americans, including 6 out of 10 Illinoisans. Under President Joe Biden, the EPA in April 2024 limited concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in tap water to 4 parts per trillion — an amount the agency said is the lowest at which the chemicals can be accurately detected. Three replacements — PFHxS, PFNA and GenX — were limited to 10 parts per trillion, and the agency required utilities to use a 'hazard index' to monitor mixtures of those chemicals, as well as a fourth, PFBS. 'There's no doubt that these chemicals have been important for certain industries and consumer uses,' then-EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters at time. 'But there's also no doubt that many of these chemicals can be harmful to our health and our environment.' Forever chemicals end up in lakes, rivers and wells after flushing through sewage treatment plants and spreading from factory smokestacks. They also leach out of products such as carpets, clothing, cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, fast-food wrappers, firefighting foam, food packaging, microwave popcorn bags, paper plates, pizza boxes, rain jackets and ski wax. Based on limited testing of tap water by the EPA and some states during the past decade, thousands of utilities still face expensive upgrades to their treatment plants. For now, it appears Chicago and other Illinois communities that depend on Lake Michigan for drinking water will not be required to do anything other than test for the chemicals. Testing by the Chicago Department of Water Management and the Illinois EPA detected PFOS in treated Lake Michigan water but at levels below the federal standards supported by the Trump administration. Peoria, where PFAS have been detected as high as 12.9 parts per trillion, is the largest Illinois city that will need to improve its treatment processes, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of water testing conducted by state investigators. In the Chicago area, the state's testing found PFAS levels exceeded federal standards in Cary, Channahon, Crest Hill, Fox Lake, Lake in the Hills, Marengo, Rockdale, South Elgin and Sugar Grove. All of those communities rely on wells; several have stopped using their most contaminated sources of drinking water. Though the forever chemicals the Trump administration is seeking to exempt have rarely been detected in Illinois, they are huge problems in other states where replacements for the original Scotchgard and Teflon chemicals have been produced, including North Carolina. 'This current administration promised voters it would 'Make America Healthy Again,' but rescinding part of the PFAS drinking water standards does no such thing,' said Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, a community group formed after DuPont and corporate successors contaminated a huge swath of the state with GenX and other PFAS downstream from a manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina. 'It's disrespectful to PFAS-contaminated communities who have suffered debilitating illnesses and devastating losses.' Ken Cook, president of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, called the Trump administration's proposed regulatory changes 'a betrayal of public health at the highest level.' 'The EPA is caving to chemical industry lobbyists and pressure by the water utilities, and in doing so, it's sentencing millions of Americans to drink contaminated water for years to come,' said Cook, whose organization has studied PFAS and advocated for federal regulations since the early 2000s. Forever chemicals: They're in your drinking water and likely your food. Read the Tribune investigationTrade groups for chemical companies and water treatment agencies sued the EPA last year after the agency under Biden adopted the nation's first limits on PFAS in drinking water. Industry groups, as they always do, challenged the science EPA officials relied upon and raised the specter of skyrocketing water bills to comply with the agency's standards. After the Trump EPA's latest announcement, trade groups declined to say if they will drop their lawsuit seeking to eliminate the entire Biden-era regulation. 'The question is not whether to regulate specific substances but how to best do so in a manner that is consistent with the state of the science and focuses on the most pressing drinking water priorities for local communities,' the American Chemistry Council said in a statement. 'EPA has done the right thing for rural and small communities by delaying implementation of the PFAS rule,' Matthew Holmes, CEO of the National Rural Water Association, said in a statement issued by the federal agency. Several lawyers from nonprofit groups noted bipartisan majorities in Congress banned the relaxing of pollution standards in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. But for chemical companies and water utilities, the Trump administration's actions effectively delay limits on PFAS in tap water for years. Also at issue is whether the Trump EPA will attempt to reverse a Biden-era rule adding the original Scotchgard and Teflon chemicals to the federal Superfund law, which would require polluters, rather than taxpayers, to pay for cleanups. A 2022 Chicago Tribune investigation identified 1,654 potential sources of PFAS in Illinois through a national analysis of industry codes that designate the type of products manufactured or used at a particular factory. Only California, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida had more facilities on the list of suspected polluters. The potential liabilities for corporations are staggering. In 2023, 3M brokered a deal last year to pay at least $10.3 billion to settle thousands of claims accusing the company of contaminating public water systems with its forever chemicals. DuPont and two other companies reached a $1.19 billion settlement in the same cases, filed by cities and water systems across the nation. DuPont and 3M earlier paid nearly $2 billion combined to settle other PFAS-related lawsuits without accepting responsibility for contaminated drinking water or diseases suffered by people exposed to the chemicals. The companies have long maintained forever chemicals are not harmful at levels typically found in people. On Tuesday, 3M announced it will pay another $450 million for clean water projects near a New Jersey chemical plant formerly owned by DuPont where PFAS were made and used. Documents obtained during lawsuits show top executives at Minnesota-based 3M knew as early as the 1950s about the harmful effects of forever chemicals the conglomerate pioneered after World War II. 3M didn't begin telling the U.S. EPA what it knew about PFOA and PFOS until 1998 — more than two decades after Congress approved the nation's first chemical safety law.
eNCA
14-05-2025
- Health
- eNCA
Trump admin drops limits on several 'forever chemicals' in drinking water
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday announced plans to scrap limits on several "forever chemicals" in drinking water, reversing what had been hailed as a landmark public health victory. In a statement, the Environmental Protection Agency said it would retain maximum contaminant levels for just two of the most notorious compounds from the so-called PFAS class of chemicals, while removing limits for four others also known to pose health risks. At least 158 million people across the United States have drinking water contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which have been linked to health impacts from birth defects to decreased fertility, rare cancers and behavioral disorders in children. The original rules, imposed by Joe Biden's administration in April 2024, were celebrated as a long-overdue response to decades of industry deception and government inaction. But under the changes announced by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the limits would now apply only to PFOA and PFOS -- two legacy PFAS chemicals historically used in products including nonstick Teflon pans, fabric protectors like 3M's Scotchgard, and firefighting foams -- while exempting newer-generation PFAS developed as replacements. The EPA would also extend the compliance deadline for PFOA and PFOS from 2029 to 2031, and rescind the so-called "hazard index," a tool the agency uses to address cumulative risks from mixtures of PFAS chemicals. "We are on a path to uphold the agency's nationwide standards to protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their water," said Zeldin. "At the same time, we will work to provide common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance." The move was praised by water utilities, but slammed by health and environment advocacy groups. "This is a huge step backwards, and it's really a betrayal of the promise this administration made to provide clean drinking water and clean air, and to make America healthy again," Melanie Benesh of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group told AFP. She noted that the excluded chemicals were developed as substitutes, but the EPA's own research has linked some of them -- including GenX -- to harm to the liver, kidneys, immune system, fetal development, and cancer. - Planet-wide contamination - PFAS earned the nickname "forever chemicals" because they take millions of years to break down. First synthesized in the 1930s and prized for strength, heat-resistance, and liquid‑repellent properties, they now blanket the planet -- from the Tibetan plateau to the ocean floor --and circulate in the blood of almost every American. Internal documents cited by researchers show manufacturers such as DuPont and 3M knew for decades about PFAS dangers yet worked to cloud the science and stall regulation. In recent years companies have paid billions of dollars to settle lawsuits with water utilities and exposed communities, even as next‑generation PFAS continue to appear in clothing, cookware, and cosmetics. Water systems will eventually have to install granular-activated-carbon systems, but the newer generation PFAS that have shorter molecular chains clog filters faster, raising operating costs. "This is a gift to the water utilities and to polluters," said Benesh. She added that the plans are likely to be challenged in court because of a provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act that states changes to existing water standards have to be at least as or more health protective than current standards. Activists are also calling on states, which are free to set more rigorous standards, to fill the gap left by federal inaction.
NDTV
14-05-2025
- Health
- NDTV
Trump Administration Eases Limits On 'Forever Chemicals' In Drinking Water
Washington: US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday announced plans to ease limits on the amount of toxic "forever chemicals" allowed in drinking water, reversing what had been hailed as a landmark public health victory. In a statement, the Environmental Protection Agency said it would retain maximum contaminant levels for just two of the most notorious compounds from the PFAS class of chemicals, while removing limits for others also known to pose serious health risks. Recent research has found that nearly 158 million people across the United States have drinking water contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which have been linked to a wide range of health problems, from decreased fertility to cancer and behavioral disorders in children. The original rules, imposed by Joe Biden's administration in April 2024, were celebrated as a long-overdue response to decades of industry deception and government inaction. But under the changes announced by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the limits would now apply only to PFOA and PFOS -- two legacy PFAS chemicals historically used in nonstick Teflon pans and 3M's Scotchgard -- while exempting newer-generation PFAS that were developed as replacements. The EPA would also extend the compliance deadline for PFOA and PFOS from 2029 to 2031. "We are on a path to uphold the agency's nationwide standards to protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their water," Zeldin said in a statement. "At the same time, we will work to provide common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance." PFAS are called "forever chemicals" because they take millions of years to degrade in the environment. First developed in the 1930s and prized for their strength, heat resistance and water- and grease-repellant properties, they have been detected everywhere from the plateaus of Tibet to the ocean floor -- and in the blood of nearly every living being. They are still commonly used in clothing, cookware and cosmetics. "This is a huge step backwards, and it's really a betrayal of the promise this administration made to provide clean drinking water and clean air, and to make America healthy again," Melanie Benesh of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group told AFP. She noted that the excluded chemicals were developed as substitutes, but the EPA's own research has linked some of them -- including GenX -- to harm to the liver, kidneys, immune system, fetal development, and cancer. Eventually, water utilities will be required to install granular activated carbon filtration systems to remove PFAS molecules. But the newer generation PFAS, which have shorter molecular chains, require more frequent filter changes, adding to operational costs. "This is a gift to the water utilities and to polluters," said Benesh. She added that the plans are likely to be challenged in court because of a provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act that states changes to existing water standards have to be at least as or more health protective than current standards.
