Teflon Cookware, 1960's by Roadsidepictures, on Flickr

In her book, The Body Toxic, Nena Baker made a shocking statement:

DuPont has let Teflon-covered cookware take the heat…

It’s a kind of bait-and-switch that, so far, has saved DuPont a lot of trouble over the thornier issue with fluorotelomers that has scientists and regulators on alert…

I picked up the book first, based on its subtitle: “How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being”, and secondly because of the cover photo of an egg frying on a scratched Teflon pan. In it, I found investigative reporting on a par with Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories, and enough eighteen letter words to boggle my brain pretty well.

The ultimate conclusion the author makes is that DuPont is throwing Teflon to the wolves (even though sales of Teflon-coated pans continue to rise steadily) to keep the regulators off their back about their far worse uses of PFOA. I gotta say although it’s disappointing, I’m not terribly surprised. With a full 1/27th of their revenues dependent on PFOA, regulation or prohibition would do them serious harm. But what harm is already being done to us?

According to the Environmental Working Group:

Available data suggest that non-stick pans are not a major source of PFOA in people’s bodies. These exposures are more likely to come from stain- and grease-proof coatings on furniture, clothing, and food packaging.

Maybe it’s not just Teflon pans we need to concern ourselves with, but food containers that use a Teflon coating (think pizza boxes, fast food burger boxes, etc.) and moreover, the manufacture of these products.

No, I’ll never own another Teflon-coated piece of cookware. I don’t need it. Using a hot pan, cold food and real fat pretty much keeps food from sticking anyway. But it’s fascinating to me that what scares us real food cooks so much could turn out to be just another diversionary tactic.

Ignore that man behind the curtain…

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade.