Mark Thorson wrote:
> sf wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:52:17 -0500, Susan > wrote:
>>
>>> I threw them out. Food cooked in them looks and tastes like sh*t
>>> and they're toxic.
>>
>> I think you're being over dramatic, but cook with whatever you want
>> to use. It's still a free country.
>
> As long as you don't burn it, it's okay. But it's so easy to burn,
> that when I saw my last non-stick pan smoking, that was the end of
> that. Holding my breath, I threw the pan out the kitchen window,
> opened all the windows in the house, and set up the big fan I use
> to empty the air out of the house on hot days.
>
> Several toxic compounds are produced when PTFE is overheated,
> but the main destructive one is hydroxyfluoroacetone. It's a far
> greater risk to the fetus in a pregnant woman than anybody else
> (unless you count birds -- exotic bird fanciers don't have
> non-stick cookware in their households).
>
> There's also the issue of PFOA, which is used to make PTFE coatings.
> It has been found to be nearly ubiquitous in the environment,
> presumably as a result of leakage from PTFE manufacture because
> there's no natural source of it. The last time I looked at this
> issue, there didn't seem to be solid information that PFOA was harmful
> at low levels, such as exposure through food cooked in non-stick
> cookware. There may be a problem at high levels, such as workplace
> exposure if you work in a non-stick cookware factory in China.
> But that's what we pay them for, right?

Not being critical here, but I think that you have a habit that I don't have
that puts your pans at risk. You put them on the burner, let them heat and
go do something else. IMO the only pans you can possibly do that with are
cast iron. I wouldn't do that to any pan, even those that aren't
non-stick. You risk the pan warping and going out of round. And maybe
injury danger to children or others in the kitchen or perhaps a fire hazard?
Janet