Scotch Guard Availability

[steamwizards]

So I enquired about getting scotch guard to Tas and was advised by 3M

"Unfortunately, this product is no longer available in Australia and no replacement products have been substituted.The item is not allowed to be brought into Australia."

So I wonder why that would be and is there a substitute available in Australia?

Rob

 

[Jim Bethel]

Rhino-Shield Gold is the most popular protector we have supplied into Australia in the past decade.

 

[Shorty]

A few years back at one of the trade shows I asked a Lady from 3M about this same problem & also about licensed applicators.

A couple of months later, after several phone calls to 3M, I got an email advising that the "new" Scotchgard that has been available is the U.S. for the last eight years or so, would not be imported into Australia and that there would never again be 3M licensed applicators in Australia.

No reason has ever been given for this decision.

The product I believe that 3M were referring to, to you, was the old FX 4860, which supposedly had a chemical in it that was supposed to linger in the atmosphere for a thousand years.

That was the story I was told in regard to it being withdrawn from Australia.

3M (USA), decided to withdraw it before the EPA forced them to, over there It may have some other name.

A couple of years after they stopped supply into Australia, the Yanks were already receiving the newer product.

I believe that the Vac-A-Way product Jim mentioned is very good according to what I read on Yankee 4rums.

 

[J Scott W]

Flourchemical protector technology is changing. The U.S. EPA has mandated that the C8 technology that was used for many years be update to a newer technology, generally C6. (These numbers refer to the average number of carbon atoms in each polymer chain.) This change was required as a precaution due to health care concerns to the workers producing the protectors and nearby residents. The protector itself was not consider harmful.

Australia only has approved protectors using the older C8 technology. Thus as protectors made the change to meet U.S. regulations, they no longer could be imported into Australia. Bridgepoint's Maxim made this change some time ago. Distributors still had some of the C8 product in stock, but I am sure that has been sold and used by now.

There are non-fluorochemical protectors such as Bridgepoint's Encapuguard Green that are available in Australia. These are effective against dry soil and water based soils. They do not protect as well against oil based soils and they do not contain acid dye resistors.