The chemicals are used in products such as food packaging, paints, cleaning products, non-stick coatings, outdoor fabrics and firefighting foam. The chemicals are manufactured by Chemours, a corporate spin-off of DuPont, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. GenX chemicals are used as replacements for PFOA for manufacturing fluoropolymers such as Teflon, since PFOA and related compounds have been found to be toxic and carcinogenic. However, in lab tests on rats, GenX has been shown to cause many of the same health problems as perfluorooctanoic acid.
Chemistry
The manufacturing process combines two molecules of hexafluoropropylene oxide to form HFPO-DA fluoride. HFDO-DA is converted into the ammonium salt that is the official GenX compound. The chemical process uses 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-2-propanoic acid to generate ammonium 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-2-propanoate and heptafluoropropyl 1,2,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl ether. When GenX contacts water, it releases the ammonium group to become HFPO-DA. Because HFPO-DA is a strong acid, it deprotonates into its conjugate base, which can then be detected in the water.
Pollution
The Chemours Fayetteville plant has released GenX compounds into the Cape Fear River, which is a drinking water source for the Wilmington, North Carolina area. The water supply may have been contaminated for a decade or more, resulting in controversy over its potential health effects. On September 5, 2017, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality ordered Chemours to halt discharges of all fluorinated compounds into the Cape Fear River. NCDEQ cited Chemours on November 14, 2017 for violating provisions in its NPDES wastewater discharge permit, following a chemical spill on October 6. On November 2, 2017, a federal lawsuit was filed by the Brunswick County Government alleging that DuPont failed to disclose research regarding potential risks from the chemical. On May 7, 2018, Cape Fear River Watch, a non-profit organization, announced its intention to bring suit against Chemours in 60 days for numerous Clean Water Act violations. Acting as legal counsel, Southern Environmental Law Center filed the suit under section 505 of the act. NCDEQ filed a draft consent order on its GenX investigation on November 21, 2018. The order would require Chemours to reduce air pollution emissions and water pollution discharges of GenX and other chemicals, and would levy civil penalties on the company of $13 million. In February 2019 a North Carolina Superior Court judge ordered Chemours to monitor GenX air emissions, analyze PFAS in river sediment and provide drinking water filtration systems.
