Can NonStick Make You Sick

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Can Non-Stick Make You Sick?
An ABC News original report

• Environmental Protection Agency Studying Whether
  Teflon Poses Health Risks

http//abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/Living/Teflon_
investigation_031114-1.html
Presented by Courtney Kimball
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The Housewives Best Friend

• The famed non-stick substance used on pots and
  pans.
• Also used in different forms to keep stains off
  carpet and clothing.
• Has grown into a 2 billion-a-year industry

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But is it Safe?

• Teflon contains the chemical ammonium
  perfluorooctanoate, known as C-8.
• C-8 has been linked to cancer, organ damage, and
  other health effects in tests on laboratory
  animals.

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Bucky BaileyBlames Teflon for his Birth Defects

• Born Jan. 1981 with one nostril and a deformed
  right eye.
• His mother Sue worked at the Dupont plant in
  Parkersburg, W. Va., when she became pregnant.
• Dupont is where workers mix the chemicals for
  Teflon.
• The chemical C-8 was found in Sues blood.

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The Teflon FluImmediate Health Problems from
Teflon

• Cooking with Teflon can make a person sick with a
  temporary flu if a non-stick pan gets overheated.
  
• Symptoms include headache, chills, backache, and
  a temperature between 100 and 104 degrees F.
• Dupont says that fumes are released from the pan
  when it is overheated, but dont occur at
  temperatures reached during normal cooking.

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A 20/20 Kitchen Demonstration

• An Environmental Working Group demonstrated that
  a piece of bacon was just getting crisp when the
  Teflon coated pan went beyond the initial warning
  point of 500 degrees F.
• It showed that at 554 degrees F. ultra fine
  particles started coming off the Teflon coated
  pan.
• At 680 toxic gases were released.

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What about your Pets?

• The fumes from overheated Teflon pans can be
  lethal to birds.
• Bird owner groups say thousands of birds have
  been killed by Teflon fumes.
• Shelby Greenman told 20/20 that her pet cockatoo
  keeled over in its cage down the hall from the
  kitchen after all the water boiled out of a
  Teflon pan.

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Long-Term Effects?

• The greatest concern about the chemical C-8 is
  that it may cause possible long-term harm to a
  generation that has grown up using Teflon
  products.
• Scientists say that if there are any long-term
  effects, the first place theyd look for them
  would be in the people who have had the greatest
  exposure to the chemicals
• People who work, live and drink the water near
  the Teflon plant in West Virginia.

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The Environmental Protection Agency

• More studies of Teflon chemicals are now
  happening.
• Pending its review, the EPA says it is not
  advising consumers to stop using Teflon products.
• The results of the agencys review on the safety
  of C-8 and other Teflon related products that may
  release it, are expected in coming months.

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Credits

• ABCNEWS.com Does Teflon Pose Health Hazards?
• Environmental Protection Agency
• DuPont Teflon