Document rBDj701D621QaGjj04RLYd22e

AH 26 BJORN.FR!THIOF@m emo.ikea.com 08/25/00 09:07 AM To: Carol Browner/DC/USEPA/US@EPA cc: Subject: Scotchgard oeift -- Inkommet fran IKEA1.BFRI 0476-81504 00-08-25 15.07 Dear Mrs Browner, Referring to the EPA press release of May~16^2000 concerning 3M_ansi their Scotchgard-productbasedionthemhemicafPFSSIF* At the end of the press release, there is a mention of the efforts that the EPA was planning to contact foreign govern ments and other chemical manufacturers to get support for a voluntary phase out of PFOS and related chemicals. As a home furnishing company, we have some upholstered fur niture products with stain-repellent treatment of the cover fabrics. Of course, we are now phaseing out those which were treated with the 3M brand, both for the North American market and for other sales countries (30 in total). But we would be very interested if the EPA has managed to get similar information from other companies as you received from 3M. In particular an alternative product with which some of our products are treated is the DuPont Teflon-based finish. In your opinion, do you considerthat the environmental and health effects of this chemical can reasonably be expected to be of a similar nature as the PFOS? The reason for my question is that, while we since a few years back now have a general trend to move over from stain-repellent cover fabrics to non-treated, removable and washable covers, we still will have some products left with this finish into 2001, and of course we want to choose as safe chemical treatments as possible for those articles. We will ourselves demand as much information from other chemical companies as possible, but we would be most grateful for any input you could give us to guide us in our choices. Best Regards, Bjorn Frithiof Quality Dept, Laws & Standards IKEA of Sweden AB Box 702; S-343 81 Almhult Sweden bjorn.frithiof@memo.ikea.com Phone: +46-476-81504 Fax: +46-476-14908 00-08-25 15.07 --- Sant till ---------------------------> browner.caroi(a)epa.gov o C-3 o <\> - o rTj >tT} Lini oo Co Contain NO OB! I