We Must Not Tolerate Toxic “Forever Chemicals” in Our Cookware

Coauthored by Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN, executive director, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

Exposure to PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” is associated with serious health effects, from cancer to reduced fertility, and like their moniker suggests, they are incredibly resistant to breakdown by the environment and our bodies. Nearly everyone in the United States has PFAS in their bodies, and the scientific and medical community are calling for swift action to reduce exposures. 

States have long led the way in protecting people against toxic PFAS chemicals in products. More than 15 states have passed laws phasing out PFAS in various products. For instance, California has previously led the way in protecting people from PFAS in carpets and rugs, personal care products, apparel and textiles, and firefighting foam. Many other states have also acted on these and other product categories, including cleaning products, cookware, dental floss, and ski wax. But PFAS are so ubiquitous and harmful that more needs to be done.  

The decision to provide the same protections as those in other states for additional products should be a no-brainer. That’s why a California bill, SB682 by Senator Ben Allen, would phase out toxic PFAS in cleaning products, cookware, dental floss, and ski wax, as well as in certain children’s products and food packaging that were not included in previous phaseouts but that other states have already acted upon. However, legislatures are actively being misled by businesses making false safety claims and using affordability as a red herring. 

Take, for instance, the Cookware Sustainability Alliance and the Cookware & Bakeware Alliance, which are aggressively lobbying to remove cookware from the bill. Some nonstick pots and pans are coated with PTFE, commonly known as Teflon, which is a plastic form of PFAS. The industry claims that PTFE cookware is not a concern for health. Yet Consumer Reports has said, “When CR tested nonstick pans to see whether consumers could trust the manufacturer’s PFOA-free claims [the poster child for harmful PFAS], we found that they couldn’t—at least not in pans made with the chemical coating known as Teflon (PTFE).” In addition, as reported, normal use of PTFE-coated pans can cause polymer fume fever or “Teflon flu,” a condition suspected to impact hundreds of people per year in the United States, leaving them with fever, chills, and headaches. Most people aren’t likely to attribute these symptoms to something they inhaled and are less likely to consider it could be from their cookware, so cases are likely underreported. 

In addition, PTFE-coated pans can be easily scratched during cooking or cleaning, releasing millions of PFAS microplastics that can make their way into food and, ultimately, your body. The analysis showed that even small scratches can release thousands of plastic micro- and nanoparticles in just 30 seconds of cooking, while broken patches in PTFE coatings can release up to 2.3 million micro- and nanoparticles. 

In fact, consumers are urged to toss out PTFE-coated cookware when it is scratched and to replace nonstick cookware every five years (even without visible scratches)—but we all know that is rarely done, and it certainly isn’t an affordable or sustainable approach. Mounting evidence suggests that microplastics, including those from PFAS used in cookware, are a growing concern for human health. PTFE microplastics have been found in urine and semen and have been associated with reduced sperm counts.

As a nurse and a public health scientist, we are concerned by this, and it is why we are in support of getting these harmful chemicals out of our cookware and other products. The good news is that there are already many affordable and safer alternatives to PFAS in our cookware, like stainless steel, ceramic, and cast-iron pans. And many cookware manufacturers have product lines that include PFAS-free options, including many of the companies that are part of the Cookware Sustainability Alliance. 

The harms of PFAS-based cookware are not limited to our kitchens. Production of Teflon has devastated communities across the United States—a story so sinister, it was portrayed by the film Dark Waters. Reporting out of Belgium and Kentucky paints a horrifying picture of the health and environmental harms of so-called PTFE recycling. For 20 years, PTFE “wastes” have been illegally shipped to the United States for irradiation and pulverization before being returned to Belgium to be used as a “raw material” in consumer products such as paint and cosmetics. Sadly, workers in Belgium PTFE-recycling facilities experienced alarming illnesses consistent with Teflon flu, including multiple episodes of extremely high fever, nausea, inflamed gums, jaw pain, and loss of nearly all their teeth. Stateside, the pollution in Kentucky was so bad, the town lost out on business opportunities. 

Clearly, claims of the safety of PTFE cookware are not supported by independent science and community experience. The harm that results from using PFAS is completely unjustified when safer alternatives are available. More than 10 states have passed legislation banning PFAS in the product categories covered by SB682—California must do the same. And other states should also expand their laws phasing out PFAS to product categories already covered by bans in other states.