PTFE Health & Safety

U.S. and international regulatory agencies – including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority – affirm the safety and reliability of fluoropolymers in their various uses. These assessments are supported by decades of research.

Some media reports have suggested a link to environmental levels of a substance known as perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. However, scientific research has shown that fluoropolymer products are not a likely source of PFOA in the environment.

Several government agencies have reviewed the safety of fluoropolymer products, including the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

On its website, EPA notes:

“The information that EPA has available does not indicate that the routine use of consumer products poses a concern. At present, there are no steps that EPA recommends that consumers take to reduce exposures to PFOA.”

The Food and Drug Administration, which has oversight over food-contact uses of fluoropolymers, recently affirmed that:

“At this time, we have no reason to change our position that the use of … perfluorocarbon resin … [nonstick] coatings are safe for use in contact with food as described in the applicable regulations or notifications.”

In addition to the FDA’s statement, European Food Safety Authority (the European Union’s counterpart for the U.S. FDA), stated in June 2005 that PFOA is permitted in producing repeated-use articles (e.g. nonstick cookware) that are sintered (baked) at high temperatures, because consumer exposure to PFOA from nonstick cookware is negligible. Recent studies in 2004 and 2006 by China’s General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine found no measurable exposure to PFOA from the use of nonstick cookware. Also, the Danish Technological Institute, an independent not-for-profit research institute, found no exposure to the use of PFOA from the use of nonstick cookware.

The use of nonstick cookware as part of a healthy lifestyle is recommended by the American Heart Association and the National Stroke Association, because it allows for cooking with little or no oil.

For its November 2007 issue, Good Housekeeping magazine "talked to numerous experts, looked at the major studies - and also conducted our own lab tests at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute" before assuring its millions of readers that "You can use nonstick safely, as long as you use it properly." The article ("Nervous About Nonstick?") offers sensible tips for cooking with nonstick and includes GH's picks for the best nonstick cookware.