5 ms·

All that teflon is going somewhere when it falls off the pan. Its going in the food and into your body. I'd rather not run that experiment. So many years ago

All that teflon is going somewhere when it falls off the pan. Its going in the food and into your body. I'd rather not run that experiment. So many years ago I started using a glass frying pan.

koenigdavidmj 11y ago
The alternate answer is that it goes out in the usual fashion with little no digestion at all. Or put more bluntly, if you eat a brick of Teflon, then you shit a block of Teflon.
onewaystreet 11y ago
You're not going to get sick from the tiny amount of Teflon that might fall off during repeated cooking. This article is about workers exposed to large amounts over years.
- ars 11y ago
  You wouldn't get sick if you ate lots of it all the time. The article is about PFOA which is not the same thing as teflon.
rcthompson 11y ago
Teflon itself is pretty much inert. That's the whole point - nothing reacts with it, nothing sticks to it. The worry is about the chemicals used to manufacture it.
- johnm1019 11y ago
  Can you elaborate on this for me, I found the article confusing in its usage of C8 and Teflon (which seemed interchangeable as written?). What chemicals are used to produce Teflon which are harmful?
  - jacobolus 11y ago
    Teflon is the trade name for PTFE, a polymer (long skinny molecule made of a chain of identical parts) with extremely low friction which is strong, has a high melting point compared to other polymers, and doesn’t react with most chemicals, making it useful as a lubricant, non-stick coating, and electrical insulator for aerospace circuitry, with a long list of other niche uses. PTFE is stable and nontoxic at temperatures below about 250° celsius. PFOA, a.k.a. C8, is a surfactant (“soap”) which was used in the polymerization of PTFE. (But also used for many other purposes, e.g. as an ingredient in carpet cleaners and fire-fighting foam.) PFOA is a toxin and carcinogen which bioaccumulates and causes nasty problems for people exposed to large amounts of it.
- KingMob 11y ago
  Teflon is inert as far as we know, but I wouldn't be surprised if DuPont knew of some subtle problems caused by Teflon in human bodies. And even if Teflon was totally safe, it's well-known to release toxic gases when overheated, which is an easy mistake to make in kitchens.
  - ars 11y ago
    > Teflon is inert as far as we know And we know quite far. It's pretty easy to tell from the molecular structure. > it's well-known to release toxic gases when overheated, which is an easy mistake to make in kitchens. So does oil. And oil does it at a lower temperature than teflon, which makes teflon safer. Or are you planning on banning oil in kitchens?
- azinman2 11y ago
  Heat your Teflon pans with nothing in it and it'll kill a canary. Hardly inert.
  - ars 11y ago
    Heat it with oil and it will kill the canary at a lower temperature than teflon. Ergo oil is toxic. You are using bad logic and bad science.
    - azinman2 11y ago
      Where are you getting that info?
      - ars 11y ago
        From the FDA. Before they approved teflon for use in cookware they tested it vs oil. Oil was found to be toxic at a lower temperature than teflon, making teflon safer than oil for high heat cooking. Obviously when I say "oil is toxic" I'm being sarcastic.
        gruez 11y ago
        Not that I'm doubting you, but can I have the source for your claim? I want to present it to my chemophobic friends.
        ars 11y ago
        http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0002889738506828 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0002889738506828 Exposure of Japanese Quail and Parakeets to the Pyrolysis Products of Fry Pans Coated with Teflon® and Common Cooking Oils Lethal temperature: butter: 260°C/500°F Teflon: 330°C/626°F plastic handle: 370°C/698°F
        azinman2 11y ago
        Fascinating. Luckily butter almost never gets to those temperatures. We're obviously different animals, and it seems that birds can eat butter, so I wonder what it is about oils specifically that kills them. Likely the mechanism will be different from PTFE and PFOA and maybe incompatible with humans who also suffer from large-scale inhalation (see article). We don't know much about long term PTFE/PFOA inhalation in small quantities. So it seems to be that cast iron itself, heated, doesn't cause the bird to die. Cast iron + butter kills the bird, but so does teflon + butter. So in butter-less dry pan to dry pan scenarios, cast iron is non-toxic yet teflon is toxic. As you can see here [1] if you leave your pan on the stove heated it can hit these toxic temperatures within minutes. So the exposure to the gas isn't hypothetical. Dry pan toxicity is a real concern which is unique to Teflon. Then there's digesting it since it will slowly wear off into your food. We don't have science specifically looking at long-term slow exposure to PTFE/PFOA. So you're taking your chances... but we do know that PFOA is much less inert than PFTE when digested. Non-stick pans won't last as long as cast iron or stainless steel, and cast iron can perform like non-stick while also adding flavor and necessary iron. Oh and cast iron can be often as cheap or cheaper than non-stick (except for the super crazy low end, but talk about most likely to be toxic...), and most certainly is cheaper in the long run (I'll have my great-grandmother's pan for the rest of my life which I do 90% of my cooking in... try that with your teflon). So if you don't need non-stick pans, so why voluntarily expose yourself to the risk? [1] http://buffalobirdnerd.com/clients/8963/documents/Teflon.pdf http://buffalobirdnerd.com/clients/8963/documents/Teflon.pdf

All that teflon is going somewhere when it falls off the pan. Its going in the food and into your body. I'd rather not run that experiment. So many years ago I started using a glass frying pan.

koenigdavidmj 11y ago

The alternate answer is that it goes out in the usual fashion with little no digestion at all. Or put more bluntly, if you eat a brick of Teflon, then you shit a block of Teflon.

onewaystreet 11y ago

You're not going to get sick from the tiny amount of Teflon that might fall off during repeated cooking. This article is about workers exposed to large amounts over years.

ars 11y ago
You wouldn't get sick if you ate lots of it all the time. The article is about PFOA which is not the same thing as teflon.

rcthompson 11y ago

Teflon itself is pretty much inert. That's the whole point - nothing reacts with it, nothing sticks to it. The worry is about the chemicals used to manufacture it.

johnm1019 11y ago
Can you elaborate on this for me, I found the article confusing in its usage of C8 and Teflon (which seemed interchangeable as written?). What chemicals are used to produce Teflon which are harmful?
- jacobolus 11y ago
  Teflon is the trade name for PTFE, a polymer (long skinny molecule made of a chain of identical parts) with extremely low friction which is strong, has a high melting point compared to other polymers, and doesn’t react with most chemicals, making it useful as a lubricant, non-stick coating, and electrical insulator for aerospace circuitry, with a long list of other niche uses. PTFE is stable and nontoxic at temperatures below about 250° celsius. PFOA, a.k.a. C8, is a surfactant (“soap”) which was used in the polymerization of PTFE. (But also used for many other purposes, e.g. as an ingredient in carpet cleaners and fire-fighting foam.) PFOA is a toxin and carcinogen which bioaccumulates and causes nasty problems for people exposed to large amounts of it.
KingMob 11y ago
Teflon is inert as far as we know, but I wouldn't be surprised if DuPont knew of some subtle problems caused by Teflon in human bodies. And even if Teflon was totally safe, it's well-known to release toxic gases when overheated, which is an easy mistake to make in kitchens.
- ars 11y ago
  > Teflon is inert as far as we know And we know quite far. It's pretty easy to tell from the molecular structure. > it's well-known to release toxic gases when overheated, which is an easy mistake to make in kitchens. So does oil. And oil does it at a lower temperature than teflon, which makes teflon safer. Or are you planning on banning oil in kitchens?
azinman2 11y ago
Heat your Teflon pans with nothing in it and it'll kill a canary. Hardly inert.
- ars 11y ago
  Heat it with oil and it will kill the canary at a lower temperature than teflon. Ergo oil is toxic. You are using bad logic and bad science.
  - azinman2 11y ago
    Where are you getting that info?
    - ars 11y ago
      From the FDA. Before they approved teflon for use in cookware they tested it vs oil. Oil was found to be toxic at a lower temperature than teflon, making teflon safer than oil for high heat cooking. Obviously when I say "oil is toxic" I'm being sarcastic.
      - gruez 11y ago
        Not that I'm doubting you, but can I have the source for your claim? I want to present it to my chemophobic friends.
        ars 11y ago
        http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0002889738506828 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0002889738506828 Exposure of Japanese Quail and Parakeets to the Pyrolysis Products of Fry Pans Coated with Teflon® and Common Cooking Oils Lethal temperature: butter: 260°C/500°F Teflon: 330°C/626°F plastic handle: 370°C/698°F
        azinman2 11y ago
        Fascinating. Luckily butter almost never gets to those temperatures. We're obviously different animals, and it seems that birds can eat butter, so I wonder what it is about oils specifically that kills them. Likely the mechanism will be different from PTFE and PFOA and maybe incompatible with humans who also suffer from large-scale inhalation (see article). We don't know much about long term PTFE/PFOA inhalation in small quantities. So it seems to be that cast iron itself, heated, doesn't cause the bird to die. Cast iron + butter kills the bird, but so does teflon + butter. So in butter-less dry pan to dry pan scenarios, cast iron is non-toxic yet teflon is toxic. As you can see here [1] if you leave your pan on the stove heated it can hit these toxic temperatures within minutes. So the exposure to the gas isn't hypothetical. Dry pan toxicity is a real concern which is unique to Teflon. Then there's digesting it since it will slowly wear off into your food. We don't have science specifically looking at long-term slow exposure to PTFE/PFOA. So you're taking your chances... but we do know that PFOA is much less inert than PFTE when digested. Non-stick pans won't last as long as cast iron or stainless steel, and cast iron can perform like non-stick while also adding flavor and necessary iron. Oh and cast iron can be often as cheap or cheaper than non-stick (except for the super crazy low end, but talk about most likely to be toxic...), and most certainly is cheaper in the long run (I'll have my great-grandmother's pan for the rest of my life which I do 90% of my cooking in... try that with your teflon). So if you don't need non-stick pans, so why voluntarily expose yourself to the risk? [1] http://buffalobirdnerd.com/clients/8963/documents/Teflon.pdf http://buffalobirdnerd.com/clients/8963/documents/Teflon.pdf