Teflon concerns may stick

Chicago Tribune: "Panmakers worry cancer questions will eat into sales
By Jerry Hirsch
Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published February 20, 2006

For home cooks and professional chefs, Teflon might be the best kitchen innovation since sliced bread became a cliche. A pan with the non-stick coating makes easy-to-lift omelets and cleans up like a dream. The concept of a cooking surface so smooth that nothing sticks even leapt into the political lexicon. A U.S. leader who weathered scandal and criticism became known as the Teflon president. Now, something finally seems to be sticking to Teflon--a nasty environmental tempest that has maker DuPont Co. and cookware companies worried that garage sales in the coming weeks will be stuffed with discarded non-stick pots and pans. Home chefs have questioned the safety of non-stick cookware since an Environmental Protection Agency advisory board asked regulators in late January to examine whether a chemical that gets slippery Teflon and similar coatings to bond to a pan can cause cancer. About 70 percent of the cookware sold in the U.S. has a non-stick coating, according to the Cookware Manufacturers Association."