A mirror with one side coated with the new self-cleaning coating. courtesy of NY Times
With the advancement of technology comes the promise of an easier, better and sometimes even greener tomorrow for all of us…or at least that’s what we’re led to believe. Often times these new technologies carry with them unintended consequences either to our health, our planet, or both. These consequences are usually a result of a product or component of a product that was put into the mainstream without a complete understanding of the component itself and/or how it will interact with other elements in the environment, our bodies, etc.
In their zeal to take advantage of some wondrous new benefit to the consumer, companies often rush a product containing some new technology onto the market only to find later that the detriments of said product grossly outweigh the benefits. For example, research is now finding that the ’safety’ of Teflon coated pans may be called into serious question as scientists have recently discovered that elevated levels of ammonium perfluorooctanoate, known as C-8, are present in the blood of almost everyone on the planet; particularly in children. C-8 is a known carcinogen that causes cancer and organ failure in laboratory animals and is released via off-gassing by Teflon coated non-stick pans when they are heated. Dupont’s response? C-8 levels are not high enough to do any real damage. Of course, one would expect that type of response from the company responsible for the patent and manufacturing of Teflon.
Teflon 2.0
Aside from the mounting evidence that points to some serious health risks with Teflon, plastic manufacturers are already enduring several other major headaches now inherent to the industry (pollution, chemical leaching, oil dependency, etc.). So you’ve got to wonder why there are some scientist still trying to come up with ways to put plastic in our lives; knowingly and unknowingly. The latest and greatest comes to us from a team at Purdue university and is a plastic ’self-cleaning’ coating that allows water to displace dirt, oil, and grease without the need for detergent. The coating can hypothetically be applied to anything and everything that needs periodic cleaning i.e. plates, cookware, engines, you get the picture.
Hmmmm…a coating that makes it easier to clean things. Where have I heard this before? From the NY Times:
The self-cleaning coatings created by the Purdue team are made of polymers formed in long chains. Each part of the chain can be engineered to have a different property, said Stephen G. Boyes, an assistant professor of chemistry at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. Here, one part has Teflon-like properties that encourage oil to bead up, and another that encourages water to wash the oil away.
The Purdue researchers have also applied the coating to filters or membranes that collect beads of oil suspended in water, but let the water itself pass through, Dr. Howarter said. Such membranes might be used in cleaning up an oil spill, for example, or for water purification.
Similar coatings might also be used on glasses, car windshields or bathroom mirrors, so that they resist fogging, as well as being easy to clean. “When you take a shower,” Dr. Genson explained, “the mirror that has our coating won’t fog up.”
Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks
While this technology may have its benefits like reducing the need for detergent, thereby reducing the amount that ends up in our waterways, the fact that only its beneficial properties, as well as all the ’stuff’ we could put it on, seems to be the focus of researchers kind of infuriates me. We’re supposed to learn from mistakes and with evidence already out there showing the likely potential for health risks associated with Teflon, it’s irresponsible to once again take the same ‘non-stick path’ by automatically assuming that sense a plastic coating performs some beneficial task it justifies its application onto anything and everything one can come up with to put it on. Remember when everyone thought insulating with asbestos was a good idea?
But apparently human zeal has once again trumped precaution as there are already talks with companies on how to further develop this coating for use. Again from the Ny Times:
Dr. Youngblood said that he was in discussions with companies about ways to further develop the coatings and additives. “Probably we will have different permutations,” he said, depending, for example, on whether the product is for coating and cleaning windows or for treating a stain.
I’ll take the cancer and/or any unintended adverse side-effects not yet known, just give me a plate I don’t need to scrub; cause that’s really a burden on my my daily life I just can’t bear any longer. Please. Just because something can be done doesn’t always mean it should be.
The Good: This coating quite possibly could greatly reduce the amount of detergent that ends up in our waterways. Easy ‘water only’ cleaning of anything coated with this coating.
The Bad: An untested and still relatively unknown plastic polymer that companies and researchers are already scrambling to come up with ideas on what to put it on. Arguably its known benefits do not outweigh its potential detriments.
The Bottom-Line: In an age where many of our technologies are now coming back to bite us in the rear simply as a result of poor foresight, coatings like this one need to be seriously evaluated over the long term to see if their contribution to society outweighs their risk.
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