Under what it calls a global stewardship program, the Environmental Protection Agency is asking producers of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, to slash releases and levels of the compound in products by 95 percent, using 2000 as the basis year.

Tests by 3M Co., the original manufacturer of PFOA, have shown high levels of exposure to the chemical may cause liver damage and reproductive problems in rats.

PFOA can remain in the human body for up to four years, according to the EPA, and small amounts of the chemical are found in a large portion of the general public.

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34701/story.htm

[ That we tolerate this shows that our values have been not altered but replaced by business. Business is driven by the greed of the individual consumer, rich and poor alike. Nothing changes until we stop this system. ]

An American professor says Canada's "cancer establishment" and multinational corporations are hiding vital information about cancer-causing chemicals in the environment and workplaces.

The result, Dr. Sam Epstein said yesterday, is thousands of preventable deaths and a major defeat in the war on cancer.

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