Chemical giants DuPont and Daikin knew the dangers of a PFAS compound widely used in food packaging since 2010, but hid them from the public and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), company studies obtained by the Guardian reveal.
The chemicals, called 6:2 FTOH, are now linked to a range of serious health issues, and Americans are still being exposed to them in greaseproof pizza boxes, carryout containers, fast-food wrappers, and paperboard packaging.
The companies initially told the FDA that the compounds were safer and less likely to accumulate in humans than older types of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals” and submitted internal studies to support that claim.
But Daikin withheld a 2009 study that indicated toxicity to lab rats’ livers and kidneys, while DuPont in 2012 did not alert the FDA or public to new internal data that indicated that the chemical stays in animals’ bodies for much longer than initially thought.
Science from industry, the FDA and independent researchers now links 6:2 FTOH to kidney disease, liver damage, cancer, neurological damage, developmental problems and autoimmune disorders, while researchers also found higher mortality rates among young animals and mothers exposed to the chemicals.
Had the FDA seen the data, it is unlikely that it would have approved 6:2 FTOH, said Maricel Maffini, an independent researcher who studies PFAS in food packaging. And though Daikin may have broken the law, it and DuPont, which has previously been caught hiding studies that suggest toxicity in PFAS, are not facing any repercussions.
“Those things shouldn’t happen, and if they do then there should be consequences, but oversight is lax,” Maffini said.
In 2020, the FDA reached agreements with some major PFAS manufacturers to voluntarily stop using 6:2 FTOH compounds in food packaging within five years. But documents show that the FDA first became aware of DuPont’s hidden study in 2015, and public health advocates say a 10-year timeline to reassess and remove the chemical is unacceptable.
Moreover, the FDA phase-out only applies to 6:2 FTOH compounds, and does not include other similar “short chain” PFAS, raising questions about whether the agency is fully protecting the public from the class of potentially toxic chemicals.
“I think people need to be able to rely on the FDA to turn science at the agency into real action, and right now that doesn’t seem to be the case,” said Tom Neltner, chemicals policy director with the Environmental Defense Fund. He and Maffini obtained the companies’ studies and related documents from Daikin’s website and the FDA through Freedom of Information Act requests.
The 6:2 FTOH compound is part of a newer generation of “short chain” PFAS that were designed to replace older and supposedly more harmful “long chain” PFAS. The industry claims that short chain compounds are uniformly safe and “practically non-toxic”. However, independent researchers like Erika Schreder, science director for Toxic Free Future, have found that PFAS, regardless of chain length, accumulate in the environment and humans, and are toxic.
“The fact that we continue to uncover evidence that the current-use PFAS have similar toxicity to the [long chain] compounds that have been phased out makes a strong argument for regulating harmful chemicals like PFAS as a class,” Schreder said.
In a statement to the Guardian, an FDA spokesperson defended the agency’s handling of 6:2 FTOH, noting that the studies “do not demonstrate an imminent health hazard” and more studies were needed to draw concrete conclusions about its safety, and that of other short chain PFAS.
Daikin and Chemours, a company that in 2015 was spun off from DuPont’s PFAS division, did not respond to requests for comment.
DuPont hides alarming new data
Industry reports and communications among the FDA and PFAS producers between 2008 and 2020 show how a sequence of inadequate chemical safety analyses, hidden studies and lax oversight created a scenario in which Americans continue to be exposed to the dangerous compound in food packaging.
The 2008 6:2 FTOH studies that DuPont submitted to the FDA monitored the impact of high exposure levels to the chemical on two generations of lab rats. The animals suffered kidney failure, liver damage, mammary gland problems, mottled teeth and other issues. However, DuPont and the FDA felt that humans’ exposure would be much lower and, with little supporting evidence, believed that the short chain PFAS would not accumulate in human bodies, Maffini said.
She called such studies on PFAS “inaccurate and inappropriate” because the chemicals are toxic at “extremely low levels” and are known to accumulate in animals’ bodies.