Eternal pollutants: the SEB group mobilizes before the National Assembly to save its jobs

They come to plead their case in force. The management of the SEB household appliances group, the unions and several hundred employees will demonstrate on Wednesday in front of the National Assembly to protest against the proposed environmental law which aims to reduce exposure to so-called PFAS "eternal pollutants", he said. -we learned on Sunday from the group. The group is currently planning nearly 600 people at this rally, Wednesday at 2 p.m. in front of the National Assembly, to put pressure on elected officials during questions to the government and to protest against the risk this bill poses to employment. .

Because the group is clear: 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, 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.

Also read: Eternal pollutants: a Bordeaux MP goes on a crusade against the PFAS “health scandal”

A bill proposed by the EELV deputy for Gironde Nicolas Thiery, which aims to reduce the population's exposure to PFAS by prohibiting the manufacture and sale of certain products which contain them, will be debated and submitted to the vote of the 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.

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 indicated. The formula SEB uses today contains PTFE (polytetrafluoroethene), another PFAS that the group says is safe, and is “totally inert and insoluble.”