Nonstick Cookware Industry Furious at Suggestion They Should Stop Causing Cancer
Nonstick Cookware Industry Furious at Suggestion They Should Stop Causing Cancer
The makers of America's nonstick cookware are none too pleased about a new law that will bar them from using carcinogenic "forever chemicals."
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Keep in mind that nonstick cookware is still very safe when handled correctly. The problem lies in the manufacturing of these needed chemicals. When these chemicals get into the environment, because of improper safety management, it will stay there for hundreds of years, taking it's toll on flora and fauna.
very safe when handled correctly
Too many people are not educated about that.
The problem lies in the manufacturing of these needed chemicals. When these chemicals get into the environment, because of improper safety managemen
Which is one of the reasons for that law, see:
Dubbed "Amara's Law" after 20-year-old cancer victim Amara Strande, who in 2023 succumbed to a rare type of liver cancer linked to PFAS after growing up near a Minnesota-based 3M plant that dumped them into the local water supply, the new regulation bans the chemicals and any items made with them from being sold within the state.
Too many people are not educated about that.
I've never met the sort of idiots who put an empty pan on some turbo heat or use metal with nonstick, but I know they're out there.
You’ve never known anyone to forget a pan on the stove? I know several and even did it once myself
You’ve never kept a nonstick pan despite visible damage to the coating “it looks ok…”?
You’ve never kept a “good” non-stick pan past its recommended life expectancy?
What about the broiler? Even though I should know better, it was just this year when I finally made the connection that I’ve been using a non-stick baking sheet under the broiler for decades.
No, no, don't know, not sure what that means
You can find online a lot of surprisingly short life expectancies for non-stick pans. Most commonly you should replace after 5-7 years or any visible sign of damage to the coating. Do you make sure to replace all your pans by then?
PFOA was legal until I think 2012. That’s not only a failure of the government to establish safe standards, but all too many people kept that cookware years past when it was no longer used, perhaps even until today.
Non-stick cookware can off-gas toxic fumes when used too hot. A common broiler can do that: you should not use non-stick pans under a broiler. However most bakeware is non-stick. An actual broiler pan uses a ceramic coating to withstand the higher temperatures: you should not just use any bakeware of the right shape.
If my pans start breaking then ofc I will replace them.
PFOA was legal until I think 2012. That’s not only a failure of the government to establish safe standards, but all too many people kept that cookware years past when it was no longer used, perhaps even until today.
I thought cookware wasn't really a concern here, more the plants making it and it getting into drinking water, being used in food packaging, that sort of stuff. "Overall, PTFE cookware is considered an insignificant exposure pathway to PFOA."
Non-stick cookware can off-gas toxic fumes when used too hot. A common broiler can do that: you should not use non-stick pans under a broiler. However most bakeware is non-stick. An actual broiler pan uses a ceramic coating to withstand the higher temperatures: you should not just use any bakeware of the right shape.
You need to heat it up to 260'C which is quite hot. I haven't had the heat limit be an issue personally.
Cookware isn’t a major vector for pfoa anymore
By 2007, studies showed that the concentration of PFOA in a sample of the U.S. population's bloodstream (collected in 2003-2004) was 25 percent less than that in samples collected in 1999-2000
Normal cooking appliances can be hot enough both on stovetop (such as with a dry pan left on a burner) and in the broiler to damage non-stick coatings
Teflon and other coatings can begin to break down when the temperature reaches 500˚F
Yeah I guess that converts to 260°C but the point is that ovens do get this hot
Was the concentration in cookware a higher source of expose some time before? I know the situation with PFOA was worse before, but afaik it was even back then due to other concerns than the cookware.
I believe it was still mostly on the manufacturing process. Except that using pfoa in manufacturing not only caused non-degradable pollution at the source but meant there could be contamination of the cookware
Manufacturing for sure was a huge contributor but that's manufacturing of products with pfoa or derivatives in general, since those were widely used. Which is still bad, but more directly relevant here, cookware hasn't itself been much of an issue to people's health afaik.
It's one of those things where it's pretty understandable to be overly cautious and better safe than sorry, but I feel like nonstick cookware took the brunt of the worry when it wasn't the real concern, rather the plants producing chemicals and their use in manufacturing and other products.
You're lucky then. I have had multiple flatmates who don't understand what a nonstick pan is, scraped the pans up, and continued to use them. Despite warning.
Finns must be particularly smart folk hah
Spoken like somebody who did not marry a person that is even more careless and ADHD than themselves, lol.
That sucks
Fortunately we only have one tiny nonstick pan that she uses for occasional eggs. And I’m the only one that uses the carbon steel wok or occasionally cast iron.
For everything else, stainless steel with an internal aluminum layer, and a nice black circle in the center of the pans, haha.
I was that idiot once. Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you
*pushes all the nonstick pans into a cupboard to keep them safe*
I have never seen a teflon pan that didnt have scratches after a few years.
I have a few. From IKEA. But most don't last very long yeah
And how do you dispose of it correctly? Cookware shouldn’t need to come with an MSDS sheet
Put it in the metal recycling bin in my case. But depends on your local recycling/waste management system.
Yeah I think you're in the minority which your teflon recycling. Mine doesn't even do paper
We have I think 6 bins in the front, with plastic being the newest addition.
Wait, it's not the material on the Pans?
That's the first part, used correctly it's a non issue so just use your nonstick correctly.
Using nonstick correctly: Dont use anything but silicone spatulas on it, do not use more than 50% of your stoves power or gas stove or you will get cancer and die. Buy a new one every 5 years anyway since it somehow became stick pan.
Using stainless pan: Find it from some junk metal pile, discover it was manufactured in the roman empire, give it a good scrub. Use it on any source imaginable and when hawk thuah slides around instead of sizzles, it's good to go.
Please don't hawk tuah your pans while cooking
Using nonstick correctly: Don't use metal and don't heat it over 260 °C
Source on the pan giving you cancer?
Yes, non-stick becomes stick because the teflon coating comes off, it's really hard to make teflon stick to anything. Using metal utensils will hasten this but afaik simply using heat will help loosen the teflon coating.
I don't mind buying a new non-stick pan about every 5 years (last one lasted 7), I usuall stick to the cheapest ones, they serve a specific service to me that stainless ones can't do.
Are you really asking "provide proofs of a pan I am warned to not heat up too much as the vapours will cause flu like symptoms and kill pet avians is bad for my health." is bad for you? It is. Why do you think you need to buy new pans every x years? Cause the non-stick layer wears off. Do bits of coating that contain top tier carciogens which are considered safe unless ingested magically vanish into the void? Yes. Except the void is your body.
I have been relying on my teflons less and less the more I get good with the stainless. I've now been making crepes and japanese omlets with less sticking than my few years old teflons.
Afaik the coating is not a carcinogen only under certain circumstances like high heat can it produce something unsafe but even there it's just potential, not yet proved to be carcinogenic but feel free to prove me wrong.
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/teflon-and-perfluorooctanoic-acid-pfoa.html It says it ssafe since it's tightly bound to the pan. I guess its true, its completely 100% safe. After all, there is no reason for anyone who owns a non stick pan to ever buy a new one since they keep being nonstick for generations, right? Surely even if you treat your pan just as they say, it means the coating doesn't wear off, right? And us educated people we know once something wears via abrasion it means it leaves behind no residue, right?
Are we reading the same article? It doesn't say it's bound to the pan. Why bother to choose a source that you don't read and disagrees with you?
It is bound to the pan. It is the non stick layer.
Now, do non stick pans stay non stick forever? Why do non stick pans fail to stay non stick? What happens to the non stick coating and where does it go when it is no longer bound to the pan?
I'm out of my element here but my understanding is that the chemicals in the FDA article are not the non stick layer, it was used in creating it and is bound to it. While I wouldn't suggest eating it (the coating) and can be harmful when heated to levels uncommon (but not impossible) in a kitchen environment there's no proof that teflon dishes can increase the chance of cancer.
Heating non-stick pans beyond recommended temperatures can cause the coating to degrade, potentially releasing toxic fumes. Cooking on high heat or using metal utensils can compromise the integrity of the coating, increasing the risk of harmful substances leaching into food.
The part you quoted says nothing about cancer, article only mentions potential risks with no evidence and no article cited. I'm sorry but articles like these are why people believe chocolate cures cancer or sitting down is as bad as smoking.
I don't claim there's no connection but so far I've seen no evidence.
I don’r know why you’re downvoted. That’s not an unfair assessment of the article. I offered it more as inference that the release of toxins when overheating the material is releasing potentially carcinogenic toxins. I take the view that what effectively amounts to burning many materials releases carcinogens and toxins, particularly man-made materials.
This is an article about a factory right? Not exactly the same conditions as cooking with a pan.
buying a pan increases demand for that item, which then gets built in those factories that then pollute the water you drink and the air you breathe. So yeah, they're directly correlated.
I bought a cheap stainless pan about 20 years ago. Don't have issues with food sticking, don't have to worry abouy coatings coming off, and if the handle breaks I can make a new one.
Coating breaks down, stainless doesn't.
I have a mix of stainless steel and cast iron. I'm not terribly worried about consuming small amounts of either of those.
A bonus is that because it's all metal I can use most of it in ovens or while cooking outdoors.
Sticking isn't really that much of an issue if you're careful. I feel like non-stick would've never taken off if people knew how toxic it was in 1970.
In other words don't do what I did and put half a litre into a $6 pot on your new induction cooktop and set it to 2kW to see how long it takes to boil.
It boils quick.
It then boils more enthusiastically than you've ever seen before, and a cancerous stench fills the air as the coating breaks down and the pot deforms.
Like throw it away every 6 months.
Edit: or 1 or 2 years, it was hyperbole. Instead of like never throwing it out?
I've had mine for 2 years now. It's still non stick and I cook extremely regularly. Eg. 90% of my meals are cooked by me. I think some non stick pans are shit though because one of the ones I own started deteriorating after a year.
how much cancer do you have?
All the cancer
The nonstick pans I've using are several years old now without any signs of deteriorating nonstick surfaces. Use cookware out of wood or plastic to not scrape off the coating.
I have 1 big nonstick and 1 small nonstick. They never saw high heat, they never saw ANY metal instruments, when stored they are protected by felt so nothing hard touches them, they never seen a steel sponge and they still became regular stick pans 2 years into their lifespan. Before you say "skill issue buying the pan" they were mid level (expensive pans for no cooks) pans from a reputable company. I have been a pro chef as well. Nonsticks are a wear item even if you treat them like shit on a stick. My oldest stainless is like 40 years old, has a huge dent on the side and works the same as it did on day one. I dug it out of someones fishing shed.
I have a kitchen full of nonstick pans. They’ve been in use since my grandma’s mom.
Got them from grandma.
Don’t freak out but cast iron was the OG nonstick, right?
I have been a pro chef as well.
Doubt
All it takes to become a chef is to accept the back breaking underpaid labour of working in a kitchen and following instructions. There are no preliminary requirements, only time invested.
I raise the BS flag. A chef is responsible for creating and planning the restaurant menu, which means they have to create dishes that fit the restaurant niche and local customer base's interest, while also fitting the recipes into the workflow of the kitchen setup, ingredient availability from suppliers, etc. They have to worry about prep capacity, yield percentages vs cost of the menu items, etc.
I studied culinary arts and worked in the restaurant industry for eight years before I got out. There is a difference between a chef and a cook and a kitchen manager. Were you a line lead, or kitchen manager? I might buy that.
The chef is not just someone who wants to break their back until they make it up the hierarchy, they're usually the one who is passionate enough that AFTER breaking their back all day they go home and STILL COOK. I went home after 14 hour days and made cereal or whatever because I was sick of cooking.
Never once have I ever heard an actual chef call themselves a "professional chef." Most actual chefs I've met are snobbishly anti-nonstick as well, but that's not necessarily a rule. ALL of them could make a Teflon pan last more than a year or two.
Your comments stink, I don't buy it, unless you were a glorified kitchen manager that the restaurant called a "chef" but you had no real job in making the menu or new recipes.
If you use it incorrectly then yeah. You might as well stop making food as well because clearly you don't know what you're doing.
What are you even talking about?
Are you le grand anti-adhesive chef?
recent studies have stated that the pans offgas from manufacturing for weeks after you've bought them, no heating needed, so no, that's not correct. and it was known that they offgas at only 325ºF years ago. https://www.ewg.org/research/canaries-kitchen
so no, teflon pans are bad no matter how you use them, they're bad for the environment, they're bad for your health, they're bad for animals, they're bad for babies that haven't been born yet.
It is the material on the pans, but the only case where the companies making the stuff were successfully sued was when they were caught for dumping intermediates of the chemical in to a tributary of Ohio river.
It’s hard to pin down how impactful the coatings on the pans are because of how many other sources of these kinds of fluorocarbons are in house hold items, and in the environment due to large companies disposing of them recklessly. We know for a fact that basically everyone has some level of these compounds in them due to their ubiquity.
The pans are just one potential source and a particularly notable one because they’re in contact with food.
Does Teflon even break down into PFAS at all? From what I read I think it doesn't.
PTFE and chemicals used in its production are some of the best-known and widely applied PFAS