Ok, trying this one more time withOUT all the annoying html coding....Also, check out paragraph #6 in the article below...
This just came up on another PC group I'm on & it actually got me to thinking that we should start a COOKWARE thread on the whole Cookware topic anyway, tips & whatnot included. So here goes with my entry... hoping this dispells any concerns & such....~ Marian
Ignore Rumors; Teflon Proven to Be Safe
Miller Op-Ed in Chicago Sun Times
August 29, 2005
The uncanny ability of President Ronald Reagan to deflect public criticism won him the nickname "The Teflon President." Ironically, now it is Teflon itself that is facing the heat, as anti-chemical groups and trial attorneys have joined forces to cook up controversy over a product that has become one of America's most trusted consumer icons, and an integral part of our language, like Thermos and Kleenex.
Like many product-safety scares these days, the concerns that have been voiced about Teflon are bogus. Charges by the radical Environmental Working Group and their friends at the plaintiffs' bar that the billions of meals worldwide prepared every day on Teflon cookware are being contaminated with "Teflon toxins" are baseless.
That really fries me.
The truth is that an EPA advisory panel expressed concern about the safety of a chemical, PFOA, used to make non-stick coatings used on cookware and numerous other products, including those trademarked as Teflon. However, no human health effects are known to be caused by PFOA; the panel's concerns were based on the fact that PFOA causes cancer in mice and rats when administered in huge doses -- methodology that is under increasing disrepute.
Under the EPA's current definition of "cancer-causing agent," however, questionable animal data are enough to classify the chemical as a "likely human carcinogen" -- although there is not a shred of evidence that either Teflon or PFOA poses a human cancer risk. In fact, a wide spectrum of naturally occurring chemicals -- including many that are common constituents of our diet -- also cause cancer in lab animals at high doses.
Most compelling of all, PFOA is not present in the actual non-stick cookware coating, including pots and pans coated with Teflon. A recent peer-reviewed published study confirmed that there is no detectable consumer exposure to PFOA through Teflon-coated cookware, and even the chronically over-cautious European Food Safety Administration earlier this month dismissed the trumped up concerns and allowed the continued use of non-stick coatings in cookware. Studies in Denmark and China also have confirmed Teflon's safety.
Finally, even the highly risk-averse U.S. EPA has stated quite clearly that it "does not believe there is any reason for consumers to stop using any consumer or industrial related products" as a result of their ongoing investigation into PFOA.
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