Safety Concerns May Stick to Teflon

A pan with the nonstick coating makes easy-to-lift omelets and cleans up like a dream. The concept of a cooking surface so smooth that nothing sticks has even leapt into the political lexicon. An American leader who weathered scandal and criticism became known as the Teflon president.

Now, something finally seems to be sticking to Teflon -- a nasty environmental tempest that has maker DuPont Co. and cookware companies worried that garage sales in the coming weeks will be stuffed with discarded nonstick pots and pans.

Home chefs have questioned the safety of nonstick cookware since an Environmental Protection Agency advisory board asked regulators in late January to examine whether a chemical that gets slippery Teflon and similar coatings to bond to a pan can cause cancer. About 70% of the cookware sold in the U.S. has a nonstick coating, according to the Cookware Manufacturers Assn.

"I stopped using those pans because of what I have heard about Teflon and carcinogen properties over the past few months," said Janeen Cunningham of Seal Beach, who recently tossed four nonstick pans into the back of her garage. "I am not sure what to do with them now."

Cunningham now cooks with older stainless-steel pans, using a thin coating of olive oil to prevent food from sticking.

Valley Village resident Tim Kislan shares her concerns.

"I worry about it because you can see when the coating chips off," said Kislan, who says about half of his 15 pots and pans have nonstick surfaces. "Maybe something is getting into the food."

Kislan said he limited the use of nonstick pans to cooking eggs and sauces -- low-temperature endeavors -- and saved hotter cooking for copper and steel pans.

Both Teflon maker DuPont and the EPA said cooks had little to worry about. The EPA raised questions about the chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, after studies found it to be in low levels in the blood of 90% of Americans, EPA Acting Assistant Administrator Susan Hazen said. Although the source of the exposure is unknown, she said cookware was an unlikely culprit.

PFOA is in the nonstick substance sprayed onto cookware. The pan then goes through a heating process in which virtually all of the PFOA is destroyed, according to DuPont.