No matter what you talk about these days, especially when it comes to food, somewhere, someone is telling the world that it’s a health hazard. The Internet is full of headlines like “Aspartame is bad for you,” “Splenda is bad for you,” “Tomatoes are bad for you,” “Coffee is bad for you,” “Meat is bad for you,” and the list goes on. So how is anyone supposed to make an informed decision about anything when there are so many Chicken Littles running around crying, “The sky is falling!”
The best advice I can give anyone is to use the Scientific Method to examine any claims you have questions about. It is the only method proven to determine the accuracy of anything. If you don’t know how to use the Scientific Method, learn it. It will serve you well.
Investigating the Health Risks of Teflon
Let’s test the method on one of the more persistent claims of the doom-sayers lately: that Teflon-coated cookware poses a health problem. We begin with a question: Is food prepared in Teflon pots and pans bad for you? All scientific endeavors start with a question. Next, we follow the procedure: investigation, preferably by direct observation and field research. Then, we form a hypothesis and test it through experimentation.
To begin, we need to research what Teflon is and whether it contains anything harmful. Teflon is the brand name for Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, a polymer made by DuPont since 1935. It was discovered by accident while trying to create a new chemical refrigerant for commercial freezers. It is a waxy-white plastic-like polymer that bonds very strongly with some metals. It is very slick, and organic material does not bond with it. First patented under the name Teflon, it was mass-produced in the 1940s. Its first use was in the Manhattan Project, at the K-25 Enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, TN, where it helped seal pipes containing highly reactive uranium hexafluoride. In 1953, French engineer Marc Grégoire created the first Teflon-coated frying pan. In 1961, American Marion A. Trozzolo, who had used Teflon in fishing equipment (reel bearings), marketed the first American Teflon-coated pan, called the ‘Happy Pan’. The rest, as they say, is history.
The formula for Teflon is: nF2C=CF2→ —{ F2C—CF2}—. If you have any background in chemistry, this tells us a lot about the substance. It is a thermoplastic polymer that will be solid at room temperature and have a melting point exceeding 620°F. While the formula can reveal more technical details like the coefficient of friction and dielectric properties, it’s enough to say that this chemical is ultra-stable and bonds strongly with metals, but not organic material. Teflon is commonly used in many manufactured products, such as Gore-Tex, shoe supports, radiometry, as an igniter for solid fuel rocket propellants, and as a coating for armor-piercing ammunition. It has very high corrosion resistance.
So, does Teflon contain harmful chemicals? Is food prepared in Teflon pots and pans bad for you? As mentioned earlier, Teflon is stable up to around 620°F, far beyond typical cooking temperatures. However, if that temperature is exceeded, Teflon can break down and create Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, or C-8), a suspected carcinogen (note the term “suspected”). However, under normal cooking circumstances, this temperature is not reached. Home stoves can’t achieve such high temperatures, and cooking oils would ignite long before reaching that point. Experimental testing by both DuPont and the EPA has shown no evidence of PFOA release at normal cooking temperatures. There have been no documented illnesses or deaths directly attributed to Teflon, except for being accidentally whacked on the head by a non-stick skillet.
The Chicken and Teflon Controversy
Further investigation sheds more light on the idea that Teflon might be dangerous. A report (not a study) mentioned a high mortality rate among baby chickens at a commercial facility before April of 2000 (Polytetrafluoroethylene gas intoxication in broiler chickens, Boucher M, Ehmler TJ, Bermudez AJ, 2000). Apparently, two broods of chicks experienced an 11% mortality rate, up from the usual 2.5%-4.7%. The chicks died from pulmonary congestion due to an unknown cause. The only connection to Teflon was that, just before the chicks arrived, the bulbs in the heat lamps had been replaced with Teflon-coated ones. However, Teflon poisoning was never identified as the cause of death—it was purely coincidental. For all we know, the chicks could have been sick before they arrived, and the problem could have resolved on its own. No further issues were noted with future broods.
Somehow, this report sparked a witch-hunt for Teflon-poisoned birds. Veterinarians began blaming pet bird deaths on the use of Teflon cookware, despite the lack of direct evidence of PFOA poisoning. In fact, it’s doubtful a veterinarian would have the necessary equipment to test for it. All reports of bird deaths attributed to Teflon are purely anecdotal, with no scientific backing. My question is this: anecdotal evidence is not enough to prove the existence of Bigfoot, UFOs, or the Loch Ness Monster, so why all the fuss over Teflon? The reason is that these stories gave the EPA something to justify its existence. The EPA worked with DuPont to test Teflon’s safety, and even though it passed with flying colors, DuPont voluntarily agreed to modify its manufacturing process by 2015 to make it even safer. Politics never ceases to amaze me…
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that there have been absolutely no documented illnesses or deaths directly attributable to the use of Teflon, other than from direct physical impact. Restaurants use Teflon cookware extensively, and have for years, because it works. Teflon is present in everyday items in your home, car, and office. Out of all the things you could worry about, Teflon should be way down on your list. Now that you know the truth, you don’t have to keep wondering: Is food prepared in Teflon pots and pans bad for you?
