Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
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Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#2The study didn’t actually find anything related to cookware. Modern Teflon in the US doesn’t expose people to PFOA/PFOS like old version did due to new regulations. The chemicals could also be entering peoples body’s through drinking water or bioaccumulation in meat or plants.
You should throw away nonstick cookware from before 2013, but new nonstick cookware sold in the US does not have PFOA. I believe the EU followed suite recently.
Edit: After doing more research based on many comments here, I realized I was wrong. The brand Teflon replaced PFOA with GenX, a different fluorosurfactant that's probably worse than PFOA. From what I can tell, fluorosurfactants are more or less required to make PTFE and it seems quite likely that all fluorosurfactants are toxic. Personally I choose to use Teflon for eggs and stainless or cast iron for everything else. That feels like a decent trade off to me comparing years of life lost from liver cancer to time spent scraping scrambled eggs off of pans.
I want to add that a lot of cool startups are working on PFAS remediation. One I know of is Cyclopure, they make a Brita filter replacement that filters out PFAS (it's very expensive at the moment, though). Probably worth it if you live near a chemical plant, airport, or US military facility (airports and military bases both use PFAS fire-extinguishing foams which they typically fail to contain).
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#3The study didn’t actually find anything related to cookware. Modern Teflon in the US doesn’t expose people to PFOA/PFOS like old version did due to new regulations. The chemicals could also be entering peoples body’s through drinking water or bioaccumulation in meat or plants. You should throw away nonstick cookware from before 2013, but new nonstick cookware sold in the US does not have PFOA. I believe the EU follow…
I assume they switched to a less studied but very similar analog, like happened with BPA?
Edit: Yep, of course they did.
> Another potential concern is that other PFAS are now in use. For example, hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO, also known as a ‘GenX’ chemical) is often used to replace PFOA in manufacturing processes, while perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) is used as a replacement for PFOS. New PFAS also continue to be developed. These chemicals haven’t been around long enough for researchers to fully understand if they might have the same (or even different) health effects.
https://www.cancer.org/healthy/cancer-causes/chemicals/teflo...
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#4The study didn’t actually find anything related to cookware. Modern Teflon in the US doesn’t expose people to PFOA/PFOS like old version did due to new regulations. The chemicals could also be entering peoples body’s through drinking water or bioaccumulation in meat or plants. You should throw away nonstick cookware from before 2013, but new nonstick cookware sold in the US does not have PFOA. I believe the EU follow…
I assume they switched to a less studied but very similar analog, like happened with BPA? Edit: Yep, of course they did. > Another potential concern is that other PFAS are now in use. For example, hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO, also known as a ‘GenX’ chemical) is often used to replace PFOA in manufacturing processes, while perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) is used as a replacement for PFOS. New PFAS also continu…
I think the end goal is to not use a similar analogue. The problematic chemicals are fluorosurfactants used in production, and they are not actually useful in the final pan. Manufacturers are working on getting rid of them:
https://www.solvay.com/en/article/eliminating-pfas
As far as I know, PTFE itself is also a “forever chemical”, but it’s an extremely inert polymer and is unlikely to be particularly dangerous as long as it doesn’t get too hot. (PFOA and PFOS are water soluble. PTFE is not.)
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#5The study didn’t actually find anything related to cookware. Modern Teflon in the US doesn’t expose people to PFOA/PFOS like old version did due to new regulations. The chemicals could also be entering peoples body’s through drinking water or bioaccumulation in meat or plants. You should throw away nonstick cookware from before 2013, but new nonstick cookware sold in the US does not have PFOA. I believe the EU follow…
What is replacing PFOA?
Is it something already present in what we eat or is it a ’new’ molecule that living organisms have never seen before?
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#6I saw "Dark Waters" [1] years ago and found that whole thing really horrific but I kept cooking with a Teflon pan until this week because I figured the process and result are distinct things (honestly how many industrial processes today don't have nightmarish byproducts...). Just this week though my pan totally died though and I happened to have this really beautiful cast iron pan with a ceramic handle of exactly the same size, so I switched. It takes a little bit of learning but so far I love it. It retains and transfers heat way better than whatever the Teflon pans I've been buying are made out of. Also I think the weight helps it make better contact with the plate (electric stove.) This YouTube playlist [2] pretty much sorted me out, combined with Adam Ragusea's video [3] I just happened to see a while ago (If you're a nerd you should watch his channel anyway.)
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Waters_(2019_film)
2. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-Q53k5K1cN5HKCwhCsUV...
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#7The study didn’t actually find anything related to cookware. Modern Teflon in the US doesn’t expose people to PFOA/PFOS like old version did due to new regulations. The chemicals could also be entering peoples body’s through drinking water or bioaccumulation in meat or plants. You should throw away nonstick cookware from before 2013, but new nonstick cookware sold in the US does not have PFOA. I believe the EU follow…
I assume they switched to a less studied but very similar analog, like happened with BPA? Edit: Yep, of course they did. > Another potential concern is that other PFAS are now in use. For example, hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO, also known as a ‘GenX’ chemical) is often used to replace PFOA in manufacturing processes, while perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) is used as a replacement for PFOS. New PFAS also continu…
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Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#8The study didn’t actually find anything related to cookware. Modern Teflon in the US doesn’t expose people to PFOA/PFOS like old version did due to new regulations. The chemicals could also be entering peoples body’s through drinking water or bioaccumulation in meat or plants. You should throw away nonstick cookware from before 2013, but new nonstick cookware sold in the US does not have PFOA. I believe the EU follow…
Why take the risk for a minor convenience?
Get stainless steel cookware and you’ll quickly learn how to avoid sticking by controlling temperature.
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I assume they switched to a less studied but very similar analog, like happened with BPA? Edit: Yep, of course they did. > Another potential concern is that other PFAS are now in use. For example, hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO, also known as a ‘GenX’ chemical) is often used to replace PFOA in manufacturing processes, while perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) is used as a replacement for PFOS. New PFAS also continu…
I think the end goal is to not use a similar analogue. The problematic chemicals are fluorosurfactants used in production, and they are not actually useful in the final pan. Manufacturers are working on getting rid of them: https://www.solvay.com/en/article/eliminating-pfas As far as I know, PTFE itself is also a “forever chemical”, but it’s an extremely inert polymer and is unlikely to be particularly dangerous as l…
> Manufacturers are working on getting rid of them.
It might be more ethical to stop selling the dangerous product until a replacement can be found, but I’m not a huge chemical manufacturer.
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#10The study didn’t actually find anything related to cookware. Modern Teflon in the US doesn’t expose people to PFOA/PFOS like old version did due to new regulations. The chemicals could also be entering peoples body’s through drinking water or bioaccumulation in meat or plants. You should throw away nonstick cookware from before 2013, but new nonstick cookware sold in the US does not have PFOA. I believe the EU follow…
Why take the risk for a minor convenience? Get stainless steel cookware and you’ll quickly learn how to avoid sticking by controlling temperature.
I know nothing about this, please explain.