Online
at: http://www.mariettatimes.com/c8/envirogroups.html
May
28, 2003
The
Marietta Times
(Ohio)
Environmental group lobbies for warnings on Teflon cookware
By Callie
Lyons
clyons@mariettatimes.com
An environmental action group is petitioning the Consumer Product Safety
Commission to put warning labels on Teflon-coated cookware, saying heated
pans coated with the substance will kill pet birds.
The Environmental Working Group this week urged the commission to take action
on the issue. The Washington, D.C.-based scientific research organization
says that in 2 to 5 minutes, with the use of a typical household stove,
non-stick coated pans reach temperatures that produce toxins that kill birds.
The issue is relevant to Mid-Ohio Valley citizens because the chemical with
the trade name of C8 is a key ingredient in the making of Teflon. It is
the chemical C8 that has been the subject of a class action lawsuit by citizens
who live near DuPont’s Washington, W.Va., Works plant who say it is
harmful to their health.
Officials for DuPont, which makes Teflon, claim the
non-stick cookware is safe, if used correctly.
“We try to make sure consumers understand proper use. But, how each
manufacturer conveys information to the consumer is up to them,” said
Cliff Webb, director of media relations for DuPont, whose local plant is
across the Ohio River from western Washington County.
Many bird lovers have known for years that Teflon kills birds, said Bill
Thompson III, editor of Birdwatchers Digest, a magazine published in Marietta.
“It’s a topic that is all over Internet discussion boards for
pet bird owners,” Thompson said. “If you leave a Teflon skillet
on the stove, birds can inhale the fumes, and it can be deadly.”
Area naturalist and bird-owner Julie Zickafoose, of Whipple, keeps her birds
in a special room with good ventilation, and not in the kitchen.
“Birds are one big lung,” Zickafoose said. “They have
five or six air sacks and two lungs, which are all connected. That’s
where they get their buoyancy in the air.”
When Zickafoose uses non-stick pans for stovetop cooking, she is careful
to stand over the stove and turn the burner off immediately. She closes
off the birds’ room and gets the kids out of the area, as well, to
protect the more delicate members of her household from fumes.
Like many, her concern isn’t limited to her pets.
In a press conference Wednesday, the environmental group’s scientists
said they, too, are concerned about what the phenomenon of Teflon fumes
killing birds might mean for humans.
“The metaphor is the canary in the coal mine,” said EWG president
Ken Cook. The group is asking the consumer safety commission to label non-stick
coated cookware with a warning about dangers to pet birds and possible human
health effects.
Dr. Jennifer Klein, EWG chemist, tested a Teflon-coated
pan’s temperature using a precision infrared thermometer to determine
how quickly the pan achieved enough heat to begin releasing fumes.
“Our simple test showed DuPont is wrong when they tell customers the
pans won’t degrade except under extreme misuse. Actually, the pans
started emitting toxic particles and chemicals quite quickly at temperatures
within normal use on a typical stovetop,” Klein said.
Others believe the environmental group is attempting to scare the public.
Terrence Scanlon, a former chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission
appointed by President Ronald Reagan, said, “There is no new credible
science in the charges being leveled against Teflon by the Environmental
Working Group.”
“I think the government has more serious concerns than canaries kept
in a kitchen and suffering from fumes,” Scanlon said. “The only
thing truly toxic in this story is EWG’s overheated rhetoric which
is designed to generate headlines and create public anxiety. The dangers
to small birds and humans from the extreme overheating of Teflon-coated
pans has been well known for many years and incidents are very rare.”
Webb points to information that DuPont co-authored with a veterinarian 10
years ago as an example of the company’s ongoing commitment to recognize
the importance of consumer awareness.
“Making a Safe Home for Your Bird” is available online at the
DuPont Web site, along with other consumer protection information.
“You’ve probably heard stories of old-time miners who used canaries
in the mines to detect dangerous gases because birds would show the effects
of gas much sooner than humans,” the guide says. “Fumes from
everyday cooking can be harmful to your bird — particularly smoke
from burning foods. Nonstick cookware can also emit fumes harmful to birds
if cookware is accidentally heated to high temperatures, exceeding approximately
500 degrees Fahrenheit, well above the temperatures needed for frying or
baking.”
DuPont recommends never keeping a pet bird in the kitchen.
Despite the corporation’s consumer advice, EWG researchers say consumers
don’t know that Teflon can kill birds.
“If it is such a well-documented phenomenon, why don’t people
know about it?” asked Lauren Sucher, EWG communications director.
Brian Stollar of Fish & Stuff, at Third and Putnam streets in Marietta,
was not aware of the danger non-stick cookware poses to birds, even though
he works in a pet shop.
“My mother has had birds for 10 years and keeps them on a dryer in
the kitchen,” Stollar said. “We’ve never had a problem.
My aunt keeps her birds in the kitchen.”
“But, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist
to figure out the big question,” Stollar said. “If it does that
to birds, what does it do to people?”
DuPont officials have confirmed that exposure to the
fumes has been known to cause a condition known as polymer fume fever in
humans.
“Fumes can cause flu-like symptoms,” Webb said. “It’s
a temporary situation that abates in a very short time with a little fresh
air. Ventilation is extremely important.
There are no long-term health effects. And, it can be avoided with proper
cooking techniques.”
But, EWG scientists say there are cases of polymer
fume fever documented in pet owners, who have lost birds to Teflon fume
exposure, that have lasted as long as a month.
DuPont has been working with C8, the key ingredient in Teflon, for 50 years
and claims there are no human health hazards associated with the chemical.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting a public meeting
in June to gather more information about the chemical for further evaluation
of toxicity to humans.
“We are quite confident when the Consumer Product Safety Commission
looks at our data DuPont will have to label that risk,” Cook said.
