We've written about this previously (also here, and here), and haven't changed our mind since. Have mastered the art of a two egg omelette in a stainless steel pan (instead of scrambled poached, I'm afraid), so what need do we have for possible death dealing teflon pans?
Shortcuts: Teflon Is Great for Politicians, but Is It Safe for Regular People?The government says nonstick pans pose no health threat, but not everyone is so sure.
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Just last year, lawyers for consumers in numerous states, including New York, filed separate class-action lawsuits based on state consumer laws on behalf of millions of Teflon cookware users.The lawsuits have been consolidated into one class action, which is now pending in Federal District Court in Des Moines.
All of this is weighing on consumers like Penny Resnick, a dentist from New Rochelle, N.Y., who was examining cookware at a local Home Goods store recently. She said she threw away her Teflon frying pans a few years ago, after hearing about the possible dangers on a talk radio show.
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One issue that can be confusing is the potential environmental and health dangers posed by chemicals used in manufacturing versus the risk possibly created when Teflon cookware is heated and fumes might be emitted.Of particular concern is perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA, also known as C-8, which is a crucial ingredient in the making of Teflon.
In 2004, DuPont agreed to pay more than $100 million to settle another class-action lawsuit brought by Ohio and West Virginia residents who contended that releases of PFOA from a plant in West Virginia contaminated supplies of drinking water.
A similar lawsuit was filed this year on behalf of additional West Virginia residents who were not included in the original lawsuit, but whose drinking water was later found to be contaminated.
This year, DuPont, seven other manufacturers and the Environmental Protection Agency announced a voluntary program to virtually eliminate the release of PFOA into the environment by 2015.
The class-action lawsuit filed last year focused not on the manufacturing process but on the cookware itself; the lawsuit does not claim personal injuries, but said that for decades DuPont failed to warn consumers of hazards from using its nonstick cookware.
The suit contended that the pots and pans, when heated to very high temperatures, release toxic particles, including PFOA. The goal is to have DuPont stop making and selling Teflon cookware.
...the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) says research has shown that Teflon cookware can harm birds and cause flu-like symptoms in humans by emitting toxic fumes when heated at high temperatures.
“Unfortunately, there is more that we don’t know than we do,” said Lauren Sucher, a spokeswoman for the environmental group.
PFOA is found at a very low level in the blood of most Americans, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and studies have shown it can cause health problems in laboratory animals.
But the agency does not know exactly how people are being exposed to the chemical, nor how dangerous it is in the human body.
Ms. Sucher said her organization recommended avoiding nonstick cookware. After all, she said, the old-fashioned kind “was good enough for our grandmothers.”
The group, she said, is more concerned about other ways material containing PFOA is used and released into the environment: to make clothes and carpets stain-resistant, for example, or to ensure that food packaging like fast-food bags or the lining of some microwave popcorn bags is grease-resistant.
For those who still want the convenience, or the option to cook with less fat, she and others suggest never heating an empty pan. In general, she said, cook on low to medium temperatures rather than high settings.
Robert L. Wolke, a professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and author of “What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained” (W. W. Norton & Company, 2002), said he did not believe that nonstick coating posed a hazard, but recommended that in general, it was a good idea to use a ventilation hood to disperse fumes.
Also, do not use sharp utensils with Teflon coating, and throw out the pan if it is peeling.
...And keep pet birds out of the kitchen.
This may sound strange. But a new round of Teflon concerns rocketed around the country last year when “Bob in Atlanta” wrote to the Dear Abby column that he lost his beloved Amazon parrot of 26 years when the bird inhaled fumes from an empty Teflon pan left burning on the stove.
Tags: environment, /EPA, /Teflon
