Teflon Flu?

The 'Teflon Flu'

I rapidly came down with the "flu" this past weekend and while it could be going around in my house... I DID prepare a roast chicken dinner on a Teflon coated pan in our Wolf Range (Why mention Wolf, that sounds so arrogant... b/c wolf temperature is a little like "Rolex time"... sometimes off by just a little) Janet mentioned in passing, "Teflon flu" with a smirk and it got me thinking... According to an article on Medical News Today website...

There is another more immediate health problem from Teflon, according to the Environmental Working Group. Cooking with Teflon can make a person sick with a temporary flu if a non-stick pan gets overheated.

'It feels like the flu,' said Houlihan, 'headaches, chills, backache, temperature between 100 and 104 degrees.'

DuPont says that fumes are released from the pan when it is overheated, which they say occurs at temperatures that are not reached during normal cooking.

As the Environmental Working Group showed 20/20 in a kitchen demonstration, however, a pan can reach that temperature in just a few minutes.

'At 554 degrees Fahrenheit,' said Houlihan, 'studies show ultrafine particles start coming off the pan. These are tiny little particles that can embed deeply into the lungs.'

The hotter the pan gets, the more chemicals are released. 'At 680, toxic gases can begin to come off of heated Teflon,' Houlihan said.

It turns out, DuPont has known about the 'Teflon flu' for years.

'You get some fumes, yes,' said Chowdhry, 'and you get a flu-like symptom, which is reversible.' Chowdhry said the flu is temporary and lasts at most for a couple of days. She also added that a warning about the flu, while not on the pans themselves, is on the DuPont Web site. note: there are 101 articles related to the search 'Teflon Flu"

In the demonstration for 20/20, a piece of bacon was just getting crisp when the Teflon pan went beyond the initial warning point of 500 degrees.

'I've never cooked bacon,' said Chowdhry. 'I can't comment.' ~I love this part ;-)



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