Nonstick cookware may cause cancer

by Nicole Weston, Posted Jan 26th 2006 @ 6:46PM

A chemical in Teflon and other cookware serves up more than just food. The US Environmental Protection Agency announced that they have asked the 8 largest manufacturers that use chemicals known as perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, to reduce production by 95 per cent by 2010 and to stop using it completely by 2015 because they have been shown to cause cancer and reproductive problems. They are classifying the chemicals in the same way that they classify mercury and lead - as a poison that remains in the body forever - but it is disturbing to note that these are found in almost every American. It is possible that it is present in far more people around the world, but some countries do not monitor the presence of perfluorochemicals (PFCs). The chemicals are used in nonstick cookware, water and grease resistant products and packaging, microwave popcorn bags, in addition to non-food related items, such as textiles and carpeting.

Companies such as Dupont, which has been involved in lawsuits before regarding their use of the PFOA known as C8, have up until this time stood by a claim that their perfluorochemicals are nonhazardous, despite evidence that they knew it was harmful. Dupont and others are now publicly pledging their support to eliminate the use of potentially hazardous chemicals in their products.

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Filed Under: Newspapers, Did you know?
Tags: cancer, chemicals, epa, teflon, Chemicals,Epa,Teflon, cookware, did you know, dupont, environmental protection agency, EnvironmentalProtectionAgency, epa, nonstick, nonstick cookware, perfluorochemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid, pfcs, teflon, teflon causes cancer, TeflonCausesCancer, united states

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-26-2006 @11:03PM zack said... hi, i'm fairly sure the chemical is used to make teflon, and actually doesn't end up in nonstick cookware. the main problem seems to be the manufacturers failing to dispose of PFCs properly and then contaminating the environment. oh well. everyone should just go back to cast iron and butter anyhow.
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1-27-2006 @6:04PM madge said... And how are we so sure the chemicals don't end up in the cookware? An episode of ABC's 20/20 interviewed Uma Chowdhry, Dupont's vice president of R&D, and Jane Houlihan, vice president for research at the Environmental Working Group. These are a few of the issues they covered:

**The �Teflon Flu�

There is another more immediate health problem from Teflon, according to the Environmental Working Group. Cooking with Teflon can make a person sick with a temporary flu if a non-stick pan gets overheated.

"It feels like the flu," said Houlihan, "headaches, chills, backache, temperature between 100 and 104 degrees."

DuPont says that fumes are released from the pan when it is overheated, which they say occurs at temperatures that are not reached during normal cooking.

As the Environmental Working Group showed 20/20 in a kitchen demonstration, however, a pan can reach that temperature in just a few minutes.

"At 554 degrees Fahrenheit," said Houlihan, "studies show ultrafine particles start coming off the pan. These are tiny little particles that can embed deeply into the lungs."

The hotter the pan gets, the more chemicals are released. "At 680, toxic gases can begin to come off of heated Teflon," Houlihan said.

It turns out, DuPont has known about the "Teflon flu" for years.

"You get some fumes, yes," said Chowdhry, "and you get a flu-like symptom, which is reversible." Chowdhry said the flu is temporary and lasts at most for a couple of days. She also added that a warning about the flu, while not on the pans themselves, is on the DuPont Web site.

In the demonstration for 20/20, a piece of bacon was just getting crisp when the Teflon pan went beyond the initial warning point of 500 degrees.

"I've never cooked bacon," said Chowdhry. "I can't comment."

The Environmental Working Group has tried without success to get the government to order that warning labels be put on non-stick pans.

Bird Owners Beware

One consumer warning DuPont does issue about Teflon fumes involves not humans, but birds. The fumes from overheated Teflon pans can be lethal to them.

Shelby Greenman told 20/20 that her pet cockatoo keeled over in its cage down the hall from the kitchen after all the water boiled out of a Teflon pan.

"I didn't smell anything, I didn't see any smoke," she said. "As soon as they inhale it, it's over. There's nothing they can do to help them."

Bird owner groups say thousands of birds have been killed by Teflon fumes. DuPont says this occurs because birds have small and sensitive lungs.

"People should not have birds in an unventilated kitchen," said Chowdhry.**

These are just a rew of the risks. I have experienced the Teflon flu myself, and have switched to stainless steel. The tiniest amount of olive oil works for me.
For the entire article: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=124363&page=1
For the 20/20 transcript: http://www.ewg.org/news/story.php?id=2140
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