Just say NO to Non-Stick ANYTHING

I have given up microwaving and cooking in teflon pans because I suspected it was toxic and found some information that it was potentially toxic to cook with teflon but now I find this information here at this link - here are some excerpts - and funny how this was apparently downplayed in the media because I don't remember hearing much about it in late 2005:

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November, 2005

A former engineer for the DuPont company has accused his ex-employer of concealing test results almost two decades ago that showed toxic chemicals leaching out of a paper coating used to give grease resistance to microwave popcorn bags, fast food and candy wrappers, and pizza box liners.

The statements Wednesday by chemical engineer Glenn Evers come a week before the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce what fines it will levy against DuPont for withholding information about tests involving a similar chemical used in making non-stick coatings.

When ingested, these chemicals break down into perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical that an EPA expert panel this year found to be a likely human carcinogen. PFOA has been found in the blood of more than 95% of Americans, several studies have shown.

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The corporate giant DuPont is in a sticky situation over a chemical used to make the nonstick material Teflon, one of its top selling products. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the company failed to disclose what it knew about the potential health effects of the chemical, known as C8 or PFOA. DuPont knew the chemical was getting into water supplies near one of its facilities, knew that it was in the blood of workers, and knew it was toxic to animals in studies.

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We often remember DDT, we remember PCBs, we remember the dioxin chemicals. Well, these fluorochemicals are more persistent than all of those, much more persistent than those. As far as we can tell, their half-lives are in thousands of years.

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In 1981 – now, this one upsets me more than anything – in 1981 DuPont found C8 in the umbilical cord blood of a baby born to one plant worker and in the blood of a second baby born to another worker. Two more workers gave birth to babies with birth defects. DuPont reassigned 50 women from the plant but the EPA was not told.

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In 2000, 3M quit making and using C8 out of concerns about its persistence and potential health effects. DuPont continues to use it, and now manufactures the chemical at a new facility in North Carolina where the chemical is again showing up in trace amounts in surrounding water. The company says it will reduce C8 emissions, but some company watchdogs say that's not enough.

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The real risk to most consumers is from your pants, it's from pancake griddles, it's from your carpet, it's from an array of consumer products in which these materials are being utilized.

(sic: ScotchGuard and other stain resistance products have this chemical)

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This article is a very good explanation of the C8 coverup by DuPont:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1325178&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Excerpts from the above article:

The chemical is widely used in the paper wrapping for fast foods such as french fries and pizza, as well as candy wrappers, microwave popcorn bags and other products. It helps to prevent grease stains from coming through the wrapper.

"You don't see it, you don't feel it, you can't taste it," Evers says. "But when you open that bag … and you start dipping your French fries in there, you are extracting fluorchemical … and you're eating it."

Once in the body, the chemical — zonyl — can break down into a chemical called PFOA. PFOA stays in the blood, a fact that was unknown when zonyl was first approved for use. The government says PFOA is now believed to be in the blood of nearly every American.

"It bioaccumulates, which means the chemical goes into the blood, and it stays there for a very long period of time," says Evers.

Studies have linked PFOA to cancer, organ damage and other health effects in tests on laboratory animals. The Environmental Protection Agency currently is considering its safety in humans.

For a very thorough look at the chemical C-8 otherwise also known as Zonyl see this link

Excerpt:

Breast Cancer ● Scientists of the Environmental Working Group (2005) have calculated from statistically significant studies in mice and human PFOA blood levels that the majority of the female population is above the 1 in 100,000 risk for mammary tumors. • More than 10 percent of all women exceed a 1 in 1000 excess lifetime cancer risk from their exposures to PFOA, and nearly 7 percent of all women exceed a safe dose for ovarian effects.

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Another excellent link on this topic from EWG:

http://www.ewg.org/issues/siteindex/issues.php?issueid=5014