Teflon-coated cookware poses no risk to health or the
environment, the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine said
in a report issued on Wednesday.
A sampling of 28 different Teflon-coated pans from 18
manufacturers showed no traces of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a
potentially toxic chemical used to produce Teflon and coatings used
in automobiles. The samples tested represent about 90 percent of
all the Teflon pans sold on the market, according to the newly
established academy.
The results were reviewed by an independent panel of experts
organized by the General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine, including academicians of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences. The panel unanimously agreed that the results
are reliable.
"Gloria" Xu Yang, public affairs manager of DuPont China Holding
Co. Ltd., said that DuPont was satisfied with the results of the
tests.
In early July, Chinese users of non-stick cookware grew uneasy
when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it
would take administrative action against Delaware-based DuPont for
multiple failures to report information about substantial risk of
injury to human health or the environment from PFOA over a 20-year
period.
The US EPA action refers to risks posed by PFOA in the
production process, not to finished products. The agency has
indicated that PFOA does appear not to exist in significant amounts
in finished cookware coatings.
Tests conducted by DuPont and independent laboratories have
shown that significant decomposition of the nonstick coating and
release of potentially harmful fumes occur only at temperatures
above 340 degrees C, significantly higher than normal cooking
temperatures.
However, the US Environmental Working Group has found in other
studies that on conventional electric cooking ranges, Teflon-coated
pans quickly reached temperatures exceeding 360 degrees C. At this
temperature, the organization reports, the coating releases at
least six toxic gases.
Avian veterinarians have linked fumes from nonstick cookware to
a phenomenon known as "Teflon toxicosis." As early as 1986, a US
specialist referred to the syndrome as a "leading cause of death
among birds."
Meanwhile, the US EPA is continuing its investigation into the
effects of PFOA. Its revised risk assessment is scheduled to be
released this autumn for public peer review by the agency's Science
Advisory Board.
In the United States, traces of PFOA have been found in the
public drinking water of communities near DuPont facilities.
Individual and class action lawsuits have been filed against the
company alleging personal and property damage resulting from the
contamination.
Studies on workers in plants using PFOA and residents in
surrounding areas have shown that PFOA builds up in human blood,
does not break down in the environment and may cause such health
problems as liver damage, reproductive and developmental defects
and cancer.
DuPont, which has about 20 wholly owned or joint venture
operations in China, denies the existence of such risks. It
produces coatings for non-stick cookware at its Shenzhen plant and
automotive coatings at its Beijing and Changchun plants.
In late July 2004, DuPont China's public affairs manager told
China.org.cn in a written statement that, "All DuPont plants in
China are managed the same as their counterparts elsewhere in the
world according to the highest international and local standards in
safety and environmental protection."
DuPont was not aware in July of any special investigation being
conducted by the State Environmental Protection Agency or the Work
Safety Administration into potential hazards of PFOA.
(China.org.cn, China Daily October 14, 2004)