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http://ens-news.com/ens/may2003/2003-05-16-10.asp


Study Warns of Health Risk From Nonstick Cookware

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2003 (ENS) - An environmental research
organization is urging the federal government to put warning labels on
cookware coated with Teflon and similar nonstick coatings. 

A new study released Thursday by the Environmental Working Group (EWG)
finds that this cookware more quickly reaches temperatures that produce
toxic particles and fumes than chemical giant and Teflon manufacturer
DuPont has previously admitted. 

EWG tested coated pans and determined that in two to five minutes on a
typical household stove, the pans reach temperatures that produce toxins
that Dupont has acknowledged kill hundreds of pet birds each year and
cause the flu like "polymer fever" in humans. 

"Our simple test showed DuPont is wrong when they tell customers the
pans won't degrade except under extreme misuse," said Dr. Jennifer
Klein, a chemist with EWG. "Actually, the pans started emitting toxic
particles and chemicals quite quickly at temperatures within normal use
on a typical stovetop." 

The study's findings prompted EWG to send a petition Thursday to the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)asking the federal safety
board to label the coated cookware with a warning about dangers to pet
birds and possible human health effects. 

The petition calls on CPSC to "require that all cookware and heated
appliances bearing polytetrafluoroethylene nonstick coatings, including
Teflon coatings, cary a label warning of the acute hazard the coating
poses to pet birds and the potential health risks to humans."  
The study by Environmental Working Group warns of health risks from
common use of nonstick pans. (Photo by Ian Britton courtesy
FreeFoto.com)

There have been no studies on the long term effects of Teflon and
similar coatings to humans, but DuPont has acknowledged that pans heated
to some 460 degrees Fahrenheit release toxic particles that can kill
birds. 

There is ample evidence that this is the case in EWG's report "Canaries
in the Kitchen," which details how birds can die from inhaling fumes and
particles emitted from Teflon coated products. 

Studies by DuPont show that humans may experience "polymer fume fever"
when Teflon is heated to 662 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The company contends that pans heated under 500 degrees have no risks to
humans because the coating stays intact at this temperature and company
officials say they do not believe consumers often heat pans above this
temperature. 

EWG's findings strongly dispute this as its tests show that cookware
exceeds these temperatures and turns toxic through the common act of
preheating a pan, on a burner set on high. 

"Not only did we reach normal cooking temperatures in very short times,
but what American adult with a kitchen has not left a pan on once or
twice and forgotten about it?," asked Jane Houlihan, EWG's vice
president for research. "It is hard to follow what DuPont is thinking
when they say the pans don't off-gas toxic chemicals under 'normal'
use." 

In its tests, EWG found that a generic nonstick frying pan preheated on
a conventional, electric stovetop burner reached 736 degrees Fahrenheit
in three minutes and 20 seconds - a Teflon pan reached 721 degrees
Fahrenheit in five minutes under the same conditions. 

EWG's study determined that at 680 degrees Fahrenheit, Teflon pans
release at least six toxic gases, including two carcinogens, two global
pollutants, and MFA, a chemical lethal to humans at low doses. 

The long term human health effects from these toxins have not been
studied, but there is increasing concern about chemical ingredients in
Teflon, in particular ammonium perfluorooctane (PFOA), a chemical
currently being reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  
In one year, a Chicago veterinarian documented 296 bird deaths in 105
cases involving non stick cookware. (Photo courtesy Stanford University)

A draft risk assessment on PFOA found evidence of high developmental and
reproductive health risks to humans, in particular to children and women
of childbearing age.

DuPont's public statements about the possible health risks from PFOA -
referred to by the company as "C8" - have been questioned. The company
is under federal investigation for the possibly illegal withholding of
key health studies regarding C8 and was sanctioned by a West Virginia
court three weeks ago because a company scientist destroyed evidence
from health research on the chemical. 

The government has not assessed the safety of nonstick cookware, most of
which does not carry a warning label. 

EWG recommends that bird owners completely avoid cookware and heated
appliances with nonstick coatings, opting instead to use stainless steel
or cast iron. The organization says neither of these materials offgas
persistent pollutants that kill birds. 

The EWG report on the health risks to birds and humans from nonstick
pans can be found here.


-- 
Fenris Wolf

RSPCA-Animadversion

http://www.webtribe.net/a/animadversion/animadversion.htm