There is a widespread belief that the Teflon coating of frying pans is extremely dangerous. Some even believe that it is better to immediately throw away dishes with barely scratches, otherwise harmful substances that can cause cancer will enter the body from these cracks. We decided to check if this is actually true.
The media report the dangers of Teflon in catchy headlines: “Teflon frying pans found deadly” (“5 TV»), "Killer Pans" ("NTV»), “Cancer in a frying pan” (“New news»). ABOUT harm Teflon they write numerous sites about cooking And healthy lifestyle. Pans with this coating accused V increase cholesterol, destruction immune system, development pathologies of the thyroid gland, cancer liver, kidneys and stomach. IN quality proof harm Teflon usually mention home birds, which very often die exactly on kitchens while preparing food.
Teflon is the trade name for polymers of tetrafluoroethylene, a chemical composed of carbon and fluorine. American chemist Roy Plunkett spent industrial experiments and noticed that under pressure, tetrafluoroethylene gas turns into a white powder. The new substance interested the scientist, and he began to study its properties. It turned out that the connection is extremely inert, that is, it practically does not react with other substances. The idea of using polytetrafluoroethylene in the production of kitchenware came into the head of the French engineer Marc Gregoire 13 years after the discovery of the substance.
Today, Teflon is used not only to coat frying pans, but also in many other industries. In particular, from it produce cladding elements, seals, various hoses and pipes are used in the production of computers and electrical cables, and are used in the military and aerospace fields. The inertness of Teflon makes it an important substance in the medical industry - from it make vascular grafts, meshes for the treatment of aneurysms, catheters, shunts and implants. Using Teflon instruments, doctors even carry out implantation of an embryo into the uterus during IVF.
Moreover, Teflon can be use inside - supplements with Teflon are proposed to be used so that people suffering from obesity and having an overstretched stomach absorb a certain amount of this substance with food and feel full earlier without overeating. Scientists fed rats for 90 days, replacing 25% of their diet with Teflon, as a result, the animals lost weight, but showed no side effects from eating this substance. Thus, even if the smallest particles of Teflon enter the body from a scratched frying pan, there is no way this substance won't cause many dangerous diseases.
At the same time, frying pans with a non-stick coating should be used according to the instructions, namely, do not leave them on the stove for a long time without any food on it. Teflon starts decompose at a temperature of 360 °C, while in just 8 minutes on fire, an empty Teflon-coated container heats up to 399 °C. When this temperature is reached, a number of toxic gaseous compounds begin to be released from the Teflon coating. At the same time, how jokes Kyle Steenland, a professor of environmental health at Emory University in Atlanta (USA), “if you heat Teflon to such a temperature that it breaks down, that will be the least of your problems, because by then your whole house will be on fire.” Scientists thinkthat the average life of a frying pan that is regularly heated to 260°C (steak cooking temperature) is just under two and a half years. If the cookware is used not only for frying, but also for stewing, that is, exposed to lower temperatures, then its service life increases.
Inhalation of superheated Teflon fumes may bring to a condition called “polymer smoke fever.” In 2012, the case of a 29-year-old Japanese man was described: before starting to cook, he put an empty Teflon frying pan on the fire, but ended up falling asleep for five hours. When he woke up to find the room filled with white smoke, he grabbed a frying pan from the stove and placed it under running water in the sink to cool. Upon contact with water, steam came out of the frying pan, and the Japanese inhaled these vapors. A few hours later, the man felt short of breath and called an ambulance. Doctors hospitalized him, did a CT scan and discovered infiltrates in the lungs. However, his condition was not critical; the Japanese was under the supervision of medical personnel for only two days, and then was discharged home.
Another Japanese was subjected to exposure to gases formed when Teflon overheats for ten hours (he also fell asleep, forgetting about the frying pan on the stove). His condition was more serious; he developed pulmonary edema, but the doctors saved him. At the same time, fatal cases of inhalation of these gases have also been described - however, the poisoning occurred not in the kitchen, but in chemical production, where the concentration of substances was many times higher.
However, parrots and other poultry were dying not at all because of the Teflon. In 1975, scientists conducted an experiment on rats, Japanese quails and parrots. The animals were kept in rooms in which vegetable and animal fats were heated in aluminum, steel and Teflon pans. Four hours in a kitchen cooking with cast iron pans was even more lethal for parrots than the same amount of time cooking with Teflon. For Japanese quails, cast iron frying pans were also more dangerous, but rats tolerated Teflon the worst. Scientists noted that the animals were killed not so much by harmful substances from the frying pans, but by the smoke from vegetable and animal fats burning on them. That is, there really is no place for a parrot in the kitchen while cooking, but not because of the Teflon, but because of the smoke from burning fats.
It is also worth noting that earlier in the production of Teflon used really dangerous chemical compound - PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). Unlike Teflon, PFOA is more chemically active, so it can react, causing harm to both humans and animals and the environment. According to research, the accumulation of PFOA in the body can lead to a number of adverse effects: decreased kidney function and increased uric acid levels, delayed puberty, decreased sperm quality, pregnant women exposed to the substance had a greater risk of gestational diabetes, their placenta functioned less well, and the children had a lower birth weight, slowed growth and increased the risk of type I diabetes and pulmonary pathologies. Manufactured in Europe and the USA, using PFOA, they are trying limit. However, the American Cancer Society writesthat the carcinogenicity of PFOA has not yet been proven and there is no reason to fear such non-stick coatings.
Thus, modern Teflon-coated frying pans are completely safe for health. Even if small particles of Teflon enter the body from scratches on the surface, they will not cause any harm to it. In this case, frying pans should be used in accordance with the recommendations in the instructions: in particular, do not leave empty dishes on the stove for a long time.
Cover image: Pixnio
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