LAST Record Preservative. Do you believe?

LAST is not a substitute or replacement for an RCM or record cleaning, and I don't believe the LAST people suggest it is intended to be. Record cleaning and using LAST serve two different purposes.

LAST is not a cleaner. Nor its use like coating ('slathering') your record with vaseline, some how interfering with the passage of the stylus through the groove. Purportedly it works at the molecular level by hardening/strengthening the vinyl so that it lasts (get it?) longer. (cf. LastFactory )

Over the past 25 years, records I've treated with LAST have held up very well, clean easier and tend to stay clean longer. I hear no sonic degradation from records treated with LAST, if anything, just the opposite.

I also use the Stylast stylus treatment as long as my cartridge does not have a hollow cantilever. I'm convinced it extends stylus life.

...in my system, YMMV, yada yada, etc.

If you research vinyl you will find out that it degrades. This degradation can be slowed by the apllication of solutions which contain lead. I'm assuming that the preservative contains lead and stabilizes the vinyl. I have used it on my most played albums only after a complete cleaning to good effect.

it would be a mistake to use this

These arguments are common when faced with product testimonials rather than a) scientific explanation by the supplier and b) independent laboratory testing. The contents of the LAST preservative may be common so that LAST does not want to give away a trade secret by divulging them. On the other hand, that does not prevent them from having an independent laboratory test their product. In the mean time anecdotal arguments are of limited value. Does anybody feel like buying two of the same record, treating one with LAST and then subjecting the results to blind audio testing? That would be interesting.

LAST definitely works. It does what they advertise by (to make a long story short) transforming the surface molecules of the lp from vinyl into Teflon. And it DOES NOT leave ANY residue on the LP. It becomes a gas almost instantly at room temp and pressure.

But as I posted in a recent thread, there are other issues which remain unresoved. Here's a copy of that post:

I still use it on lp's that I expect to play a lot, say 8 or 10 times a year. But I'm very careful with it, and only apply it while outside the house - for reasons stated below. As far as a sonic signature - I don't hear any difference that could not be attributed to an overactive imagination.

However, the effect I would worry about is your health. I don't know the EXACT formulation - but I know that LAST is basically a "Flourinated Hydrocarbon" such as PFOS or PFOA which the LAST guys originally sourced from 3M. 3M shut down production in 2002 over health liability concerns, but some other chemical manufacturers have taken over. It's contact basically turns the top few molecules of the LP surface into Teflon, which to oversimplify - is created by exposing Nylon (which includes viNYL) to a Fluorinated Hydrocarbon gas. Your new Teflon record is much slipperier and heat resistant then before, so it doesn't wear out. However:

Here's a quote from this website: www.ewg.org/reports/pfcworld/e...

"The U.S. EPA peremptorily forced one member of this family off the market in 2000: PFOS, the active ingredient used for decades in the original formulation of 3M’s popular Scotchgard stain and water repellent. Shortly thereafter, 3M also stopped manufacture of a related perfluorochemical, called PFOA, that is now under intense regulatory pressure at EPA. 3M formerly sold PFOA to DuPont, which has used PFOA for half a century in the manufacture of Teflon. (DuPont now makes the chemical itself at a new facility in North Carolina.)"

Here's a quote from the EPA:

"PFOS accumulates to a high degree in humans and animals. It has an estimated half-life of 4 years in humans. It thus appears to combine persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity properties to an extraordinary degree."
- May 16, 2000. Phaseout of PFOS. Charles Auer, USEPA, Director, Chemical Control Division Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT)

Hope I'm not depressing anyone - my knowledge of this is incomplete, so it might be nice if someone from the Last Factory would clarify the risks. But I'm worried that a full disclosure may not quite be in their interests.