How does Teflon affect human health?
The reason Teflon cookware is so easy to clean is because its ultrafine particles are easily degradable, with thin layers coming off the pan during cooking. This is what makes it “nonstick”. More specifically, this decomposition begins to happen when the pan is heated above 260 °C (500 °F), causing the tiny particles to get inhaled/ingested and embedded deep inside the lungs and digestive system. 260 °C is a fairly common temperature in cooking, making it unreasonable to expect consumers to use the cookware without overheating it above that initial warning point. In a demo done by 20/20 news, a piece of bacon was just getting crisp when the Teflon pan reached that temperature. The short-term effects of these ingested Teflon particles are flu-like symptoms in humans (headaches, chills, backache, and temperature between 100 and 104 degrees.) However, for smaller animals (and specifically for birds), they are lethal. In the long-term, the various chemicals that make-up Teflon (for instanc
