Last fall I questioned the safety of non-stick cookware. The article did not attract too much attention back then, but look for the issue to be much more in the new in coming weeks.
I watched a very interesting webcast from West Virginia University. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the safety issues associated with perfluorocarbons, the chemicals used in the coatings on Teflon and other non stick cookware. The streaming broadcast is a bit jumpy and at times a bit technical. Fortunately the Environmental Working Group has summarized this presentation nicely here: http://www.ewg.org/node/26517.
These chemicals are present in all of the world ecosystems. They are present the blood of most humans, even those living in isolated areas. Concentrations increase as you go up the food chain. This suggests exposure from many sources other than cookware. Our pots and pans are just an easily recognized use and exposure risk. Potential human exposure comes from drinking water, food can coatings, food packaging, and fast food take out boxes. It is also used in less well know places like the stain repellent coatings on clothing and furniture, and the slippery coatings on dental floss.
Although it us used in non stick cookware coatings, some studies are inconclusive as to whether exposure from cookware use, when compared to other exposures, is a significant risk to humans. We get exposed from so many other sources, it is difficult to say what the biggest risks are. We can control cookware exposure, however, so I suggest you think about doing just that.
PFC’s have been shown to cause pup loss and preterm delivery in mice and rats. Mothers have been shown to pass it on to their offspring in utero. It is a suggestive or likely carcinogen which the manufacturers have pledged to eliminate from their products by 2015. California legislators are moving to ban the non-stick coatings from food packaging, saying the evidence is clear and alternatives are available, so why wait until 2015. Why not do what you can and ban them from your kitchen?
Like so many chemicals, PFC’s are thought to be more dangerous to children, infants, and pregnant women. There is also the risk of multiple chemical exposures. This is where exposure to a chemical like PFC is made more dangerous by exposure to other chemicals in our lives. In fact, some view our lives as being lived in a chemical soup, where we are daily exposed to many different chemicals. We really don’t know the cumulative effect of drinking pharmaceutical containing water from a plastic water bottle made with BPA, while eating eggs cooked in a non-stick pan, before putting on unregulated cosmetics, after sleeping in a bedroom with an off-gassing new carpet.
The list of our daily exposure to man-made chemicals is staggering. I think it is a testament to the resilience of the human body that we are as healthy as we are. Many of these exposures are not things we can easily control. Why not control the ones you can?
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Will:
An interesting article. My youngest daughter used to hound me daily to stop using a non-stick skillet for cooking – especially on high heat. I had used the same skillet for several years and she noticed a few places in the bed of the skillet where the Teflon had worn through. She warned me that that stuff was in my system. I was always a little skeptical about the harmful affects of Teflon, but I finally got the message. I still use a non-stick skillet, but now I keep the heat low.
A few years before I retired a young man at work filed a grievance because he said that he had become ill after installing a new carpet in one of our buildings. I visited the building afterwards and I could definitely smell a chemical odor coming off of the carpet.
Very informative post.
Swubirds last blog post..UNDER SUSPICION
This is so scary to know. I had absolutely no idea about how unsafe it is to use non stick cookware like that.. In fact I am such a junkfood-junkie that I use these almost every evening to cook me snacks, noodles etc!
But mom always advises that I use these pans on low-heat and I am glad, I never overlook anything she says.
*Wondering how much of the harmful chemicals have I gathered in myself till now*
Abhinav Soods last blog post..Are you Blogging in the Right Direction?
I had no idea we were exposed to those same chemicals in so many other places too! Not sure I wanted to know that. There are plans to ban it though?
Jennifer Robins last blog post..Sky Watch Friday
Well, California is talking about banning the chemicals from the inside of food packaging. The industry says it will stop using the chemicals by 2015. So I think we are on our own on this one. If we want to reduce exposure a little at least, we should stop using non-stick pans.
Holy crap, dental floss? is nothing sacred? It is a good thing like you said our bodies are so resilient to many of these chemicals, still why wait till 2015 to do something about it now, again thanks for the heads up, any suggestions for a dental floss substitution?lol.
Bobs last blog post..Moon, Spica and Plutoids
anyone know what long term affect this has on people?
I like easy cleam up thats why i use unstick.. whats safe to use and easy toclean up ? margaret
Hi Margaret – There are some studies that show biological damage, but the real concern in my unscientific opinion is summarized in the last two paragraphs above. By no means are the chemicals in the non-stick coatings the only chemicals our bodies absorb on a daily basis. The cumulative affect is what is concerning. If you have to use non-stick pans to make bread, cake or muffins, that is probably not as bad as the higher heat of frying in non-stick pans. I don’t use non-stick pans period. On other things, like drinking water from a plastic bottle, I am not always 100%. In general, I subscribe to the idea that you make as good an effort as you can and don’t beat yourself up if you are not perfect. But on the question of using non-stick pans on my stove to cook my food, I am perfect. I don’t ever use them.
Great article. I must admit that I like non-stick cookware and do use it. It’s kind of disturbing that so many of the day-to-day things we use are full of chemicals but as you say, we are a resilient species and it is amazing what our bodies can put up with.
I have an opposing point of view. If California had its way, we all would go back to the stone ages except there would be environmental lawyers to deal with in our caves. These guys have hurt every single industry in America and now they want to get into our kitchens. Nothing harms the human body more than stress does. And how do they plan to attack that. With another ban? The teflon coating industry will not die, it will simply move overseas and you will still see them sold in stores. The environmental lobby is under the grips of the outsourcing lobby and that is what drives these legislations and media panic about all these chemicals. I could go on about chemicals and their effects. However, I do plan to use teflon coated pans in the future as in the present regardless of what panic I am being fed. Just like the dangers of using a microwave oven or cell phones causing cancer. More people die of hunger in this world and more children die of malnutrition. For once let us stop worrying about the petty things in life ( such as teflon and backlinks ) and contribute to the greater cause of humanity. Thank you, Sir.
Opposing views are great. The main point is that everyone should be able to have their own informed views and for that information is needed.
For you, chemicals in food, contaminated water, off-gassing plastic water bottles, and Teflon cookware may be “petty” concerns. For many of us they are not.
By the way, the link to your name had to be removed. Links to sites with only one post, but dozens of ads are penalized by the search engines.
Your health is at risk
As a retired Hazardous Chemical Material Consultant I urge you to avoid cooking & microwaving with all non-stick material…
Here are a few of the decomposition products at 260 degrees centigrade
The authors did not consider the hydrofluoric acid which destroys the lungs. All fluorochemicals listed are cumulative.
Table 1 Chemical names, formula and acronyms of structures shown in Fig. 1
Structure Name Compound formula Acronym (PF—PerFluoro)
(I) Trifluoroacetic acid C2HF3O2 TFA
Pentafluoropropionic acid C3HF5O2 PFPrA
Heptafluorobutyric acid C4HF7O2 PFBA
Nonafluoropentanoic acid C5HF9O2 PFPeA
Undecafluorohexanoic acid C6HF11O2 PFHxA
Tridecafluoroheptanoic acid C7HF13O2 PFHpA
Pentadecafluorooctanoic acid C8HF15O2 PFOA
Heptadecafluorononanoic acid C9HF17O2 PFNA
Nonadecafluorodecanoic acid C10HF19O2 PFDA
Heneicosafluoroundecanoic acid C11HF21O2 PFUnA
Tricosafluorododecanoic acid C12HF23O2 PFDoA
Pentacosafluorotridecanoic acid C13HF25O2 PFTrA
Heptacosafluorotetradecanoic acid C14HF27O2 PFTeA
(II) These compounds are largely unreported in the literature. For simplicity we have elected to name them as the ether of the
corresponding perfluoroacid.
(III) Dichlorofluoroacetic acid C2HFCl2O2 DCFA
(IV) Chlorodifluoroacetic acid C2HF2ClO2 CDFA
(V) Difluoroacetic acid C2H2F2O2 DFA
(VI) Monofluoroacetic acid C2H3FO2 MFA
(VII) Hexafluoropropene C3F6 HFP
(VIII) Chloropentafluoropropene C3F5Cl CPFP
Fig. 2 19F NMR showing the production of TFA. Fluoroformaldehyde, tetrafluoroethene, and HFP are also shown. Many of the other signal identities have
yet to be established.
Analyst, 2003
Toxic thermal decompostion products are cumulative at all exposure levels and should be avoided. Do not believe Dupont they have lied for decades and are protected by certain Washington lobbyists……
Heres one paper quoted in the table above:
The use of F NMR and mass spectrometry for the eluciddation of novel fluorinated acids and atmospheric fluoroacid precursors evolved in the thermolysis of fluoropolymers
authors: David A. Ellis te al
department of chemistry university of Toronto
The authors did not consider gases such as carbonyl fluoride, hydrogen fluoride, & perfluoroisobutylene which are also released. Only the novel decomposition products were considered
and these were found at 260 degrees centigrade
Amazing, Anthony. As you can tell from this article, I am strongly opposed to using non-stick cookware. It is eye-opening though to see the long list of nasty chemicals released form the coatings at 500 degrees F, a temp easily reached with stove top cooking. Scary!
This is a very interesting topic. I know that there are some that would disagree with this post, but I have always wondered about the safety of these particular sets.
What is your recommendation of a good frying pan. If use stainless steel have to put a lot of oil, so it is not healthy also. How???? and please give guideline of purchasing a healthy rice cooker as well. Thanks
P.S regarding flossing teeth, I think I better use my long hair to floss, afterall is is naturally non stick….hahaha
It is a tough switch to make as we have all been spoiled by Teflon pans. I do use stainless steel and the key is to use lower heat than you are used to. The lower heat itself makes for healthier food. Normally I use olive oil. If I am making something that olive oil does not go with, I use butter. I use very little. The thing to be sure of is the lower heat. I even cook eggs in stainless steel frying pans with no trouble.
Hi there,
I just bought a 100% CERAMIC coated non-stick pan made by Starfrit. It is PTFE & PFOA free. It seems to be similar in feel to the ceramic coating on my flat-iron hair straightener…!
From what I understand, CERAMIC is natural and stable when heated, and if it is, then it should have been used from the beginning!!
These old school non-stick pans should have NEVER been made in the first place!!
However, understanding that Teflon is produced by the old (illuminati) ‘DuPont’ family, I’m not surprised AT ALL how toxic their stuff is!
DUPONT should be charged with environmental treason !!!
I don’t really know much about the ceramic non-stick pans as I use exclusively stainless.I’ll look into ceramic cookware. You are right in your last comments. In the smae vein, the webcast I linked to in the post above was real eye-opening. Makes you wonder how far we have really come since the time of Karen Silkwood.
Can anyone tell me if the non-stick today is safe? They “say” the Green (HSN) ans are safe but I read too many reviews as to how they still stick.
It is hard to tell from the description exactly what the interior of these pans are made of. It is a bit vague, (maybe purposely?). Anyway if they are a non-stick coating, then I would not use them. For years I have used only regular stainless steel pots and pans. Recently I bought three ceramic pans and love them so far. They are even more non-stick than Teflon. You can read the details, see links, and get my more in-depth review here.
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