Teflon Worries

ABC 16 Western/Central Pennsylvania, Jill Garrett
Published January 26, 2006

Your non-stick surface may be going away, but not for quite a while. Researchers find Teflon, and other non-stick stain resistant products contain a chemical called POFA, that doesn't go away. A woman who worked in a DuPont plant, blames it for her son's birth defects. Ken Cook, of the Environmental Working Group, describes the problem, "It is found everywhere from babies in the womb in the United States and elsewhere, to whales in the ocean, and beyond, that it is indestructible in the environment. It lasts forever." The Environmental Protection Agency asked companies including DuPont & 3M to phase out the use of PFOA, for non-stick surfaces by the year 2015. It maybe 10 years before they come up with a substitute.