Throw away your Teflon® cookware

If you have Teflon-coated pots and pans in your kitchen, throw them away. Teflon releases some toxins when heated that can be deadly. This includes other non-stick cookware under names like Silverstone, Tefal, Anolon, Circulon, Caphalon and others. They are safe for cooking until you heat them up.
Teflon is the trade name for Dupont's synthetic polymer, polytetrafluoroethylene (Non Stick Coating PTFE). Within five minutes, a Teflon-coated pan can heat to about 750ºF, and thermal degradation of the PTFE creates toxic compounds like PFIB, a chemical warfare agent ten times more lethal than phosphene, the one used in world wars I and II. Also emitted are aluminum, mercury, and cadmium--chemicals that affect the brain, These compounds are toxic to you and the environment as well.
PTFE is most notorious for its toxicity to birds in "Teflon toxicosis". The birds' lungs hemorrhage, fill with fluid and the birds suffocate. There are numerous reported examples of this such as pet birds dying when water being heated in a Teflon pan burned off completely. It is a reminder of canaries dying in mines as an indication to miners that the air was unsafe. Of interest is that warnings about birds appear on the Teflon website. Teflon Coating Of course, the site says that Teflon is safe to use "at normal cooking temperatures." Testing has shown that it gets too hot and gives off toxic fumes within minutes, even before bacon gets crisp.
In humans, exposure to PTFE breakdown and Teflon toxicity causes polymer fume fever. It is a fever mimicking influenza. Only a few cases of people in hospitals dying from overheated Teflon have been reported. But most doctors might not recognize it as Teflon toxin caused because it seems like the flu.  Watch the attached video 20/20 did about Teflon.
DuPont, as the original inventor and product manufacturer of Teflon-coated products, conducted a study on humans with Teflon-laced cigarettes after their employees were becoming ill at work. Nine of the ten participants developed polymer fume fever. This is an environmental issue of Teflon. It is an occupational hazard to work on its production where perfluorooctanoic acid(PFOA) as a surfactant or emulsifier is used to combine an oily and watery mixture to make Teflon. PFOA in animal studies has been shown to be a carcinogen. The risk is both to workers and in how the PFOA is disposed of in the environment. Best Non Stick Coating In December 2005, Dupont was ordered to pay the largest civil administrative penalty the EPA has ever obtained under any federal environmental statute. Dupont had been hiding the toxicity reports of PFOA.
Teflon causes thyroid issues, increases infertility by 134 percent, is a carcinogen and an immune suppressant.  It contaminates the environment during manufacturing and does not break down in the environment. It has a relatively short life before the coating wears off because it is quite easily scratched. Some new non-stick supposedly non-toxic eco pans are available now but the coatings are still apt to scratch off. They are not a healthy nor an eco-friendly cookware choice. Another article suggests better alternatives for you and the earth.
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