EPA charges DuPont hid Teflon's risks

[RedEarth]

More than 50 years after DuPont started producing Teflon near this Ohio River town, federal officials are accusing the company of hiding information suggesting that a chemical used to make the popular stick- and stain-resistant coating might cause cancer, birth defects and other ailments.


Environmental regulators are particularly alarmed because scientists are finding perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, in the blood of people worldwide, and it takes years for the chemical to leave the body. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) reported last week that exposure even to low levels of PFOA could be harmful.


With virtually no government oversight, PFOA has been used since the early 1950s in the manufacture of non-stick cookware, rain-repellent clothing and hundreds of other products. The EPA says at this point there is no reason for consumers to stop using those items. But so many unresolved questions remain about PFOA that the agency is asking an outside panel of experts to assess the risks.


"The fact that a chemical with those non-stick properties nonetheless accumulates in people was not expected," said Charles Auer, director of the EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/chitribts/20050118/ts_chicagotrib/epachargesduponthidteflonsrisks

[Journeyman]

1. Teflon pans, Teflon Presidents. . .

seems they're all bad for us.

[DulceDecorum]

2. Cast iron cookware -- unseasoned

is the way to go.
The rust won't kill ya and the non-stick patina is what them scientists were aiming for in the furst place.

Seriously,
aluminum cookware is outlawed in Europe -- causes neuro damage such as Alzheimer's.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. I have a stainless steel set of cookware.

:)

[DulceDecorum]

8. Well done!

Live long and prosper.

[booksenkatz]

10. What's a good brand?

I want to get rid of my nonstick stuff ASAP, but I don't have alot of money. Is there a good brand I could look for that won't kill my pocketbook? This stuff started scaring me back when I first noticed tiny black flecks in my scrambled eggs -- I'd go out and get a new nonstick pan, when in fact I should have gotten new stainless pans! Thanks for any help you (or anyone else) can give. I won't like having to go back to scrubbing pans again, but it'll be worth it.

On edit: before the nonstick stuff, I had RevereWare, but it was aluminum...:(

[Melinda]

11. Check out Amazon.....

Cuisinart Stainless Steel Cookware

Farberware is great and affordable too.

[Liberal Veteran]

12. I got a set of Wolfgang Puck's brand from HSN (only time I EVER ordered)

The quality is good and the price is reasonable.

Check this out.

http://www.hsn.com/cnt/prod/default.aspx?webp_id=1577893&web_id=1577893&sz=0&sf=qc&dept=qc0057&cat=&subcat=&gs=&attr=181&prev=hp!sf!181!dept&ocm=

[patcox2]

16. Go stainless, Farberware has cheap stuff.

But look for the ones with the thick piece of aluminum bonded to the bottom, that is absolutely key for proper heat distribution, otherwise you get hot spots and scorch your food.

Sams club sells a nice set of aluminum bottomed stainless stuff, too.

The best stuff is All-Clad, they make an aluminum with stainless interior, an aluminum with stainless interior and copper exterior, and a stainless with a thick copper core, I want them all.

I have been buying Cuisinart copper-aluminum-stainless pots and pans at Marshalls, severely marked down, one piece at a time as they show up. Not as nice as the AllClad, but way cheaper.

[Lorien]

23. Kirkland/ Costco stainless steel cookware is EXCELLENT

and BLUE. It's well constructed and about half the price (or less) of other similar brands.

[shanti]

20. the rust

might not kill you, but it sure doesn't taste too good!

[not fooled]

24. but you need to season to use???

I just went out and bought a set of cast iron cookware...you do have to season before use???

Also, there's apparently a "Dummies" cookbook for cast-iron cooking, so anyone who wants to try has a source of info.

[sweetheart]

30. There are links on that

Google away... i've given up on seasoning, and just spray with
olive oil and use a steel scrapy thing to clean up... as seasoning
is fancy ooh!! :-)

http://www.kitchenemporium.com/info/castiron.html

[jayfish]

26. A Little Off Topic...

but, I have heard (I think on NPR) that putting plastic, IE: T$%pperware in the microwave is also very bad for you. From what I understand that plastic at the surface aerosols and then falls back on to your food. Do you know anything about this? I remember hearing about it around a year ago and haven't heard anything since.

Jay

[enough]

3. In other times, this would be a major scandal.

I'm not sure the press has enough life left in it to cover this as it deserves.

A truly sickening chapter in conscious corporate evil-doing and regulatory indifference.

snip>

DuPont also has known since at least 1984 that water wells in West Virginia and Ohio were contaminated with PFOA, according to company records. But people who rely on the wells for drinking water didn't find out until 2002, when internal DuPont documents started pouring into court.

"Someone made a conscious decision to expose us to this without telling us," said Robert Griffin, general manager of the Little Hocking Water Association, which supplies drinking water to 12,000 Ohio customers from wells across the river from the Teflon plant.

"If you wanted people to be lab rats for such a long period, nobody would ever allow it," Griffin said.

snip>

DuPont documents, though, show company officials were worried the public would learn that PFOA had contaminated local water supplies. One benefit of settling the lawsuit over the Tennant family's dead cattle, company attorneys advised in an internal e-mail, would be preventing the release of information about PFOA in the water.

"Biggest potential downside: plant contamination issues surface, case becomes class action," DuPont attorney Bernard Reilly concluded in a March 2000 e-mail outlining tradeoffs if the company chose to fight the Tennants in court.

more>

[LostinVA]

4. DuPont Probably Killed My Great Grandfather in the 1950's

He worked in Wilmington, DE, and processed chemicals for DuPont. He suddenly got sick and was diagnosed with three different types of cancer. My grandmother said DuPont doctors drove him to Philly for treatment, came to the house and gave him medicine, etc. Other DuPont people brought food, etc. She said she thought it strange at the time, although her mother thought it was nice of them to be so concerned (!). My mother was about 10 when he died, and said he died in horrible pain. He had also been a very active man all of his life, and wasted away to nothing. He was only about 55.

So... I believe anything they say about them... those scum knew they were killing people.

[philaguy]

6. Trouble is...

They'll never get these allegations to stick.

[Blue_Tires]

7. not funny

but you are telling the sad truth

[Robbien]

9. Wonder why they are going after Dupont. The EPA defends business

these days, not attack them.

[gratuitous]

13. Never mind all that!

We're talking about private accounts for social security! Now, if you invest part of your retirement funds in American business, there's just NO WAY you can't help but fail to make a killing. Or not. And social security is gonna go bankrupt, oooh, just any decade now, so invest NOW!

[preciousdove]

14. Why Aerosol Teflon?

They just came out with spray bathroom cleaners last year. How sick is that?

[LisaL]

15. Exactly. They are putting this crap into more and more products.

Apparently, it causes birth defects and cancer, so let's put it everywhere...

[On the Road]

17. Is Teflon Itself a Toxin?

or just the manufacturing chemicals? And does it apply to Silverstone or other nonstick surfaces, too? Just wondering.

[conflictgirl]

18. It's all the nonstick surfaces

Dupont makes both Teflon and Silverstone BTW. It's all the same chemical and it's still toxic. It's toxic not just in the manufacturing process but also when it's burned (ie while cooking). It's already known that the fumes from cooking on Teflon can be toxic to pet birds; what's the subject of some debate is whether or not the fumes are dangerous to humans.

To me, it's just common sense that if fumes or chemicals can kill members of the animal kingdom, they probably aren't good for us either...

[On the Road]

19. I Hadn't Realized That

Will have to go back to steel or ceramic-coated cookware.

[midnight armadillo]

22. I'm not sure that's right

I don't think that Teflon is dangerous under normal cooking, but rather when it gets incinerated or heated for recycling, for example.
I could be wrong, of course. Anyone have a reference?

[RedEarth]

25. It's my understanding, medium heat is the highest a person

should use with teflon pans. High heat with teflon pans can cause fumes that can kill birds....as the other poster indicated, if it can kill animals, it's probably not good for humans. Over the last several years, our family has used cast iron....once seasoned, cast iron skillets are great.

[sweetheart]

31. Teflon itself, seems no harm

It's "heated" teflon (pans). Teflon is white in its raw form, and
can be purchased in bars if you need that kind of material. It is
heavy for plastic... and absorbs no moisture (unlike plastic) which
can have some special applications. Specific density 2.2... with Al
at 2.8 ... its heavy.

I hate those nonstick pans anyways... somethin's unnatural... i
can smelllll it... and all for the cost of a steel wool cleaning
scrubbie, and some olive oil (that's better for you anyways.)

[Runcible Spoon]

21. is calphalon a threat too?

don't know much about this topic...only know that my parents won't use teflon around the african grey...but what about calphalon?

[David Zephyr]

27. It's the Teflon used to seal water pipe connections that is alarming.

Forget worrying about the frying pans. It's your daily drinking and bathing water is piped through connections, joints and valves where teflon tape and teflon pipe dope has been used for decades.

[Rockerdem]

28. Teflon is a drop in the bucket when it comes to plumbing.

PVC in supply and drain lines dwarf the little bit of tape at the joints.

[genieroze]

29. Reagan was the Teflon President and he gave the country cancer. n/t

[struggle4progress]

32. kick