Jash Botanicals Natural Health Corner

One night not too long ago, I was watching TV when they released a few tidbits about what was coming up on the news at ten.  When they mentioned that Peter Coyote was going to do a bit for The Breast Cancer Foundation, I decided to stay up and watch what one of my favorite actors had to say.  I was surprised when he announced that he had agreed to have his body tested for toxic substances and proceeded to let us know what they had found.  Among a list of heavy metals and assorted chemicals that I will write about at another time, the one that peaked my interest was Teflon.  Being a former non-stick cookware user, I was curious to see what they had to say…

According to what I learned from the 10 o’clock news and my research is that manufacturers of nonstick cookware have known for years that heating their products past 600 degrees may cause fluropolymers in the coating to break down.  And guess what?—as these chemicals degrade, they release toxic gases, some of which can generate a temporary flu-like condition and some of which are carcinogenic, into your air.  What did DuPont (the maker of Teflon) have to say about that?  Well, they recommend that you cook at temperatures at or below 500 degrees.  Well, we can all do that, right?  Not quite. 

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental watchdog, stated that their study revealed a generic nonstick frying pan left empty on an electric burner set at high heat, reached 736 degrees in just 3 minutes and 20 seconds; a Teflon pan topped 700 degrees in 5 minutes.

The EWG appealed to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to insist on a warning label on nonstick cookware, but alas, you can all guess where that went.

“If you use them, it’s going to introduce something into your body that has the potential to cause adverse effects when it’s not necessary," says Diane Henshel, an associate professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs who focuses on sub-lethal health effects of environmental pollutants.

"DuPont is saying ‘Oh, it doesn’t break down like that,’ but that’s not true," she says. "Under ideal laboratory conditions, it is very slow to degrade, but no one would ever call a cooking situation an ideal lab situation.

"Everything breaks down with time and those coatings are going to be more likely to break down as they are being scraped, which happens in cooking situations, or when they are being used to heat something that could promote the breakdown of acids such as those in tomatoes, wine, or alcohols."

You know what I did when I found out?  First I had myself tested to see what I did have in my body, and yes, Teflon was just one of the culprits.  I then went out and bought myself a set of cast-iron cookware and geared up to detox, detox and detox.