News Coverage
Teflon Dangers
Published May 5, 2003
There is alarming news involving a chemical now detected in the blood of 92 percent of adults and children tested around the country.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA), announced it is conducting its most extensive scientific assessment on this type of chemical to find out how its getting into our blood and whether its harmful.
The chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid or p-f-o-a is used in the manufacturing of Teflon.
Erin Nissen was stunned to hear that this chemical may not only be in her blood, but in her two year old son's blood.
Nissen said, "They have it on the market without a label...a warning label? When I bought it (Teflon pan) I didn't see a warning label or else I would have thought twice about it."
It's not just non-stick pans. Teflon products manufactured by Dupont are everywhere. The company website, teflon.com, shows it in Stainmaster carpet, utensils, paint, place mats, upholstered furniture, comforters and hundreds of other common household products.
Industry studies have linked PFOA to a variety of health problems, including cancer and liver damage in rats, but regulators don't know whether those findings are relevant to humans.
Jane Houlihan works for the Environmental Working Group in Washington D.C. "P-F-O-A, the teflon related chemical is found in over 90 percent of children tested, including children from Missouri," she said.
The chemical also kills birds according to Mike Macek a curator with the St. Louis Zoo. Macek said, "Most bird owners know they don't want to keep birds in the kitchen because when Teflon burns, the substance is released in the air, and pet birds die rapidly."
Veterinary biologists at the University of Missouri linked more than 1000 chicken deaths to Teflon coated lamps. Alex Bermudez, the chief biologist investigating the chicken deaths, said, "It damages the lining of the lungs and then fluid leaks into the lungs then they drown in this serum."
What do birds and rats have to do with humans? Clif Webb is a Dupont spokesperson. "We're confident it's safe. The reason we're confident it's safe is we had 50 years experience with our own employees and we've not seen any adverse health effects as a result of it."
Webb says Teflon cookware does not contain P-F-O-A. The chemical he says is used in its manufacturing process but is heated and removed before getting into the finished product.
Houlihan said studies prove when Teflon pans are heated above 500 degrees, PFOA- off gasses, or is released into the air.
Webb admits that could happen saying, "If someone applies excessive heat there can be off gasses not only from Teflon coated cookware, but other cookware or other objects that could ultimately effect humans or animals."
Researchers at the Environmental Working Group are pushing the EPA to phase out P-F-O-A.
Houlihan said, "It's a chemical that ranks with dioxins and PCB's and well known toxins in terms of range of harm it causes to lab animals. It never breaks down in the environment, it's in our blood."
The EPA has never regulated PFOA. Government scientists now say they are conducting its most extensive assessment ever undertaken on this type of chemical. Results could lead to some type of regulation.
So what should you do? Dupont says keep-using Teflon. They stress it is perfectly safe.
EPA spokespeople say more study is needed but that could take at least six months before government scientists determine whether it's harmful.