Teflon
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| The Discovery of Teflon |
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PTFE (the main ingredient of TeflonTM) was discovered by accident in 1938 while working with refrigerant gasses.
The link here to the right will take you to the story on the teflon.com website, and is here merely as an interesting bit of history.
As you probably already know, TeflonTM quickly became a very popular material due to its myriad of industrial and consumer applications. Most people associate it with cookware, but there are a huge number of other uses in the communication, automotive, aerospace, and textile industries.
According to the teflon.com website, "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that products made with perfluorinated compounds (PFC), including nonstick cookware, are safe for consumer use."
However, they do warn that birds (parakeets, canaries, etc.) should not be in the kitchen when cooking with PTFE-coated pans. Apparently, they tend to drop dead unexpectedly. Otherwise, I guess they're perfectly safe.
The nonstick coating uses PFOAs in its manufacturing process, though none is supposed to remain after completion. However, heating a pan coated with the material to high temperatures can lead to the release of 15 types of toxic particles and gasses, including phosgene gas. There is even a condition characterized by headaches, chills, backache, and fever known as Teflon Flu.
There is some dispute about what temperature is required for this to happen, but it appears the gasses can be released while preheating a pan on high, in 2-5 minutes.
And don't think that the newer coatings don't have these issues; TeflonTM is touted as being safer than the other non-stick coatings. In any case, you can bet these chemicals are released both when discarded materials are incinerated with other trash, and during the manufacturing process when the by-products are released into the air and water.
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