On the topic of chemical, how do you know if something is dangerous -- in the context of household item? Even with the MSDS and/or knowledge of the compositions, layman doesn't really have any sense on how dangerous something is (as it's all missing dosage). I'm a bit on the paranoid side (mostly because I think my roommate/ housemate has always been too liberal with spraying chemicals crap everywhere), and most of t…
The Teflon Toxin
21–30 of 263 posts
Re: The Teflon Toxin
#22Oh I love the crybaby mentality of wanting the government to regulate everything Like the government has the power or time to regulate the huge amounts of "chemicals" (which is usually a term used by people that failed Chemistry 101) both natural and artificial But hey, let's start banning Dihydrogen Monoxide!
Like the government has the power or time to regulate the huge amounts of "chemicals"
How about instead of having "government" do the testing, we instead require that anyone creating a new chemical needs to test it for safety and publish the results (and raw data) before allowing it to be sold? Seems reasonable to me that you verify that whatever you're selling isn't dangerous (or if it turns out to be dangerous, inform the buyers so that they can act accordingly). Should be the same with any product too, not just chemicals.
Re: The Teflon Toxin
#23Horrible. This is what's so scary about the free market and our current chemical regulations of innocent until proved guilty. People cover up, even the biggest most "professional" here (DuPont), and the public gets decades of abuse. Why is it that medication requires FDA approval with lots of animal/human tests before you can sell it, but chemicals do not? Here the tests internally done showed prove of issue year aft…
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Re: The Teflon Toxin
#24Horrible. This is what's so scary about the free market and our current chemical regulations of innocent until proved guilty. People cover up, even the biggest most "professional" here (DuPont), and the public gets decades of abuse. Why is it that medication requires FDA approval with lots of animal/human tests before you can sell it, but chemicals do not? Here the tests internally done showed prove of issue year aft…
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Apparently it was also sold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid#Applica...
Re: The Teflon Toxin
#25Oh I love the crybaby mentality of wanting the government to regulate everything Like the government has the power or time to regulate the huge amounts of "chemicals" (which is usually a term used by people that failed Chemistry 101) both natural and artificial But hey, let's start banning Dihydrogen Monoxide!
Like the government has the power or time to regulate the huge amounts of "chemicals" How about instead of having "government" do the testing, we instead require that anyone creating a new chemical needs to test it for safety and publish the results (and raw data) before allowing it to be sold? Seems reasonable to me that you verify that whatever you're selling isn't dangerous (or if it turns out to be dangerous, inf…
This is the EU approach (REACH: http://echa.europa.eu/regulations/reach ). It's pretty burdensome, and somewhat unevenly applied (lead has been phased out of solder, but not of batteries).
The "verify your product is not dangerous" has had strange effects, as people selling hand-knitted stuffed toys in tiny quantities have to work out how to handle CE marking requirements. This kind of regulation sets an effective minimum size on businesses.
Re: The Teflon Toxin
#26Oh I love the crybaby mentality of wanting the government to regulate everything Like the government has the power or time to regulate the huge amounts of "chemicals" (which is usually a term used by people that failed Chemistry 101) both natural and artificial But hey, let's start banning Dihydrogen Monoxide!
Like the government has the power or time to regulate the huge amounts of "chemicals" How about instead of having "government" do the testing, we instead require that anyone creating a new chemical needs to test it for safety and publish the results (and raw data) before allowing it to be sold? Seems reasonable to me that you verify that whatever you're selling isn't dangerous (or if it turns out to be dangerous, inf…
That's a much fairer requirement (and it exists in some forms), but it has some issues
Some substances are not meant to be in contact with people. It would be even unethical/illegal to study the contact of certain substances with people. Short studies usually can't tell the long effects of substances.
Testing in animals also has some problems (cigarettes are safe for mice)
Longer exposures (in a factory environment) also cause more problems, and in the case of duPont they're not the first not the last to be involved in similar issues (of employee contamination)
Just to be clear, I'm not defending the company, but to think government can regulate all kind of new substances that appear everyday is just silly.
Re: The Teflon Toxin
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Apparently it was also sold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid#Applica...
Sorry, I deleted my post when I re-read the story. Still, it's not clear that the levels in the products were enough to have harmful effects, the problem was really the lack of care handling it in the plant, and the unsafe disposal.
Re: The Teflon Toxin
#28All 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.
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.
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?
Re: The Teflon Toxin
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now Teflon has not C8 on it as it is manufactured. You will create dangerous compounds though if your pan goes over high temperature. This could happen if for example there is no oil in the pan. I have seen housewives and cookers heat the Teflon pan without oil for evaporating the water. Big no no with Teflon. I have seen metal scrappers burning teflon pans to use the pan for something else and painting it!(with tefl…
>I have seen housewives and cookers heat the Teflon pan without oil for evaporating the water. Big no no with Teflon. Oops... I regularly do this. Same question as previously.
I do this on cast iron. Never on Teflon.
You can use an oven thermocouple to measure the temp of your pan as you heat it without oil. If you do it once,and compare with the temps that are dangerous(you could see it on Internet) you will never do it again, as you will realize how fast temp goes up and how easy is to manufacture C8 with your pan.
Water acts as a limit of temperature, when it is wet it can't go higher than 100 Celsius(locally, it can in the parts of the pan that are dry). But once all water is gone, it goes hot incredibly fast. Oil does the same but with higher temperature than water, with way higher boiling pressure.
If someone does this mistake in one of my Teflon pans, I just throw it away. I never trust pans that are not mine.
Obviously, when you see smoke in the oil it is not good either.
By the way most of my pans are ceramic or cast iron.
Re: The Teflon Toxin
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apparently it was also sold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid#Applica...
Sorry, I deleted my post when I re-read the story. Still, it's not clear that the levels in the products were enough to have harmful effects, the problem was really the lack of care handling it in the plant, and the unsafe disposal.
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