Does using Teflon pans for cooking hurt birds??
Yes, all nonstick cookware contains a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid also known as PFOA or C-8. When nonstick cookware is burned it can release this chemical as fumes which can kill your birds. Birds have super sensitive respiratory symptoms so very little is needed to kill them. Interestingly, people can also be affected by these fumes in high enough concentrations. Humans will get flu like symptoms but usually recover in a few days. Truthfully, recent research indicates that using nonstick cookware may not be good for us humans, either! Experts disagree on whether these pans release the fumes only when burned dry at high temps (such as when someone forgets a pot on the stove) or if the fumes are actually released at normal cooking temps. There are many tales of woe where people have used nonstick cookware for years with no problem and then one day their bird collapsed and died. Sometimes this occurred in a large house with the bird located at the far end of the house from the
