Red Flag Over Teflon

It's In The Blood Of Most Americans, But Is It Harmful To Babies?

(CBS)  There is new cause for concern over the chemical used to make Teflon and other stain resistant products.

The chemical, known as PFOA, is already found in the blood of most Americans. Now, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported on The Early Show, scientists are studying whether it is harming newborn babies.

The chemical used to make Teflon gives us everything from non-stick cookware to food wrappings. But it's also a suspected carcinogen and consumer groups have wanted it off the market for years, saying it's dangerous to people.

Now, new research from Johns Hopkins Hospital has found that PFOA is showing up in the umbilical cord blood of 99 percent of newborn babies tested over five months. Researchers want to know if the chemical is harming the newborns, who may be more vulnerable.

No one knows exactly how the chemical gets into the bloodstream, but Sue Bailey believes PFOA is why her son has severe facial defects. He was born in the 1980s, when she worked around PFOA chemicals at Dupont and she remembers a Dupont doctor calling her shortly after the birth.

"He was asking all these questions, wanting to know what the deformity was," Bailey told Attkisson. "I asked him why he needed to know that and he told me that any time there was a birth defect or a deformity they had to know all about it because it had to be reported. But they did not report it."

The Environmental Protection Agency says Dupont sat on that information and other substantial risks to humans for 20 years, according to Attkisson. The company recently agreed to the largest EPA fine in history, $16.5 million.

Bailey's son just turned 25 and has had 30 plastic surgeries to repair his facial defects.

Dupont says there's no proof PFOA caused Bailey's defects or any other problems, but Attkisson says the claim gives added urgency to a recent announcement by the EPA that Dupont will slash most use of PFOA-related chemicals within four years and halt it altogether by 2015.