This stuff is in drinking water which seems bad, but what are the dangers of Teflon and Gore-Tex clothing?
Huffington Post article: https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/welcome-to-b...
Dark Waters film on the topic: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9071322/
DuPont was the entity responsible for the pollution and coverup.
If you're concerned about goretex and dwrs, everything made by Nikwax uses different technology and is PFA free. Goretex might be safe for end user (or might not) but the manufacturing process is probably environmentally risky ... I wouldn't buy goretex for non-critical uses. So use it for mountaineering but not in the ski resort or on the way to work
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/10/firefighting-foam-afff-p...
That is one big caveat, Teflon is in cookware, under direct flames, is there more precise info on what being "burned" actually means temperature-wise in Celsius?
I am personally a total baby about the few non-stick pieces I own. The only things they cook are eggs, and I don't let anyone else use them. But that's just because I'm precious about their condition, not because I fear fumes. As I said in an other comment downthread:
> PTFE does emit some uniquely nasty chemicals when overheated, but in mercifully small quantities, and the effects seem to be temporary. If you read up on fluorinated polymer fume exposure, you'll find exactly zero known deaths, only a handful of known injuries, and no firm evidence of long term health effects. Considering that there are millions of amateur cooks out there abusing non-stick pans every day since the 1960's, I'd say that's a pretty fucking good track record.
To my knowledge no manufacturer has ever disclaimed that their product should be used below 200°C or else fluorinated polymer fumes are released into your kitchen.
Downplaying the health impact of those fumes is distracting from the manufacturers' omission.
Also we shouldn't defend this with the safety of PTFE in implants, this is misleading because they are completely inert at body temperatures it does not help any discussion regarding the safety a pervasive cookware.
The fact that cookware makers aren't overly concerned with temperature warnings should tell you something about the health risk here. There is little liability risk to them because apparently there is no demonstrable health risk. At the risk of repeating myself endlessly:
> read up on fluorinated polymer fume exposure, you'll find exactly zero known deaths, only a handful of known injuries, and no firm evidence of long term health effects.
If you can find any evidence of negative health impacts from nonstick cookware, there are thousands of ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyers who would love to see your work.
FWIW, William-Sonoma says theirs do too: https://blog.williams-sonoma.com/is-nonstick-safe/
I’d bet most people don’t read the directions for their pan, and if they do, they’re probably not measuring the temperature of their pan during use. They’re probably just trying not to burn their butter or smoke their oil, which happens around 200c anyway.
And you might have another reason to worry about that food fried at 200c+: many foods cooked at high temperatures themselves form carcinogenic substances.
> I raise exotic birds and have heard that fumes from Teflon will them. Is this true?
> We have heard of this before. In the Scanpan manufacturing process, the non-stick compound is actually embedded into the material that makes up the cooking surface, unlike cheaper cookware where the Teflon coats the Aluminum base. The only way that fumes will be released from this material will be if the non-stick compound actually breaks down from excessive heat. (e.g. the pan is left empty on full flame for extended periods). If used within its normal operational boundaries, no damage should result. Obviously we cannot warrant that no damage will arise but have no reported cases of this happening. In fact since 2007, Scanpan GreenTEK is made with no PFOA, the primary harmful components for exotic birds. Once should be aware that the fumes from burning margarine are more intense than that from cookware and may cause more damage to exotic birds.
The part about PFOA being the primary harmful component for birds is utter bullshit. But the bit about margarine is interesting.