PFOA in Textiles Comes under Renewed Scrutiny

摘要

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been prominent in the news in recent weeks, as the regulatory drive to eliminate it from textile products gathers force. The writing seems to be on the wall for this chemical, which is associated with many long-established water- and oil-repellent treatments - most notably those based on C8 fluoropolymers, in whose manufacture it is used as a polymerisation aid and subsequently remains present in trace amounts.