The management of the household appliances group will be hand in hand with the unions and several hundred employees to demonstrate on Wednesday in front of the National Assembly and thus put pressure on the deputies on the eve of the passage at first reading of this law carried by the deputy EELV of Gironde Nicolas Thierry.
The group indicated at this stage that it expected nearly 600 people to attend this gathering on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. in front of the National Assembly. Buses will come from Lourdes (Hautes-Pyrénées), Lorsgey, Is-sur-Tille (Côte d’Or), Pont-Évêque (Isère), Rumilly (Haute-Savoie), Mayenne (Mayenne), Saint-Lô (Manche) and the headquarters in Écully (Rhône), depending on the management. SEB indicates that it does not use Teflon in its non-stick coatings and affirms that the PFAS used in particular in the manufacture of the famous Tefal pans do not present a health hazard.
Almost indestructible
Almost indestructible, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, massively used in the chemical industry, accumulate over time in the air, soil, river water, food and even the human body, ‘hence their nickname of “eternal” pollutants.
These molecules are described by some experts as “the greatest chemical threat of the 21st century”, but considered partly essential by the industry. The bill notably plans to prohibit the manufacture and sale of certain products that contain PFAS. It will be debated and put to a vote by deputies on Thursday, the day after the demonstration.
The president of the French household appliances group SEB, Thierry de la Tour d’Artaise, estimated on Sunday that “confusing components which have nothing to do with each other leads to nonsense”, in an interview with La Tribune, emphasizing that “this concerns 3,000 jobs in France”, with two production sites in Rumilly (Haute-Savoie) and Tournus (Saône-et-Loire).
“Tefal products – like all those from SEB – do not contain PFAS considered harmful to health or the environment by health authorities,” he added.
Go faster than Europe
When purchasing the Tefal brand in 1968, the group “decided to manufacture its own coating”, using another formula which allows the coating to be stuck to aluminum, and which does not contain PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) , a component formerly used by the DuPont company and incriminated in pollution, particularly in the United States, the group told AFP.
The formula used today by SEB contains PTFE (polytetrafluoroethene), another PFAS which the group claims does not present any danger, and is “totally inert and insoluble”.
Arguments deemed “extremely fragile” by MP Nicolas Thierry, author of the bill, contacted by AFP: “PFOA has been banned since 2020 anyway, and has since been recognized by the International Cancer Research Center (Circ ) as a carcinogen for humans,” he recalled. He adds that other PFAS used instead remain extremely persistent in the environment, during manufacturing and at the end of product life.
Concerning the possible social consequences for SEB of a ban on PFAS, the MP considered that “the industrialist is caught in the act of lack of anticipation”, given the lawsuits which have affected the giants of the chemicals, some of whom paid very large sums to escape trial.
Latest to date, the 3M group, manufacturer in particular of Scotch and Post-its, agreed in June 2023 to pay up to 12.5 billion dollars as part of lawsuits initiated by several public drinking water distribution networks for PFAS contamination.