The cookware industry has long asserted that cooking in nonstick pans is not a significant source of exposure to the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). However, the September 2010 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine reports possible health risks, including high cholesterol levels, for children from exposure to this chemical. This chemical is, of course, the nonstick coating on cookware.
According to the Cookware Manufacturing Association, the PFOA used in the manufacture of the coating does not remain in the coating when the product reaches the consumer. And science seems to support this claim because PFOA is found in the blood of people all over the world, even in places where there are no Teflon pans.
How PFOA exposure occurs is really unknown. Experts speculate that sources of exposure could include drinking water, food packaging, microwave popcorn, and possibly even the air we breathe. Recent research suggests that almost everyone has some level of PFOA in their blood.
In the study, blood samples taken from more than 12,000 children and adolescents enrolled in the C8 Health Project were analyzed. The C8 Health Project is a study of communities in the middle Ohio River Valley that are exposed to high levels of PFOA due to contaminated drinking water. The research project was carried out due to a class action settlement against chemical giant DuPont. DuPont operated the plant linked to water contamination.
The researchers looked at blood levels of two chemicals, one of which is perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which is primarily used in nonstick cookware. PFOA concentrations were on average about 7 times higher than those reported in a nationally representative survey.
Children who had the highest levels of these chemicals in their blood were also more likely to have abnormally high total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol, according to researcher Stephanie J. Frisbee, an MSc at the University of California School of Medicine. West Virginia.
Children and adolescents with the highest levels of PFOA in their blood had a 20 percent increased risk of higher total cholesterol and a 40 percent increased risk of higher LDL cholesterol than those with the lowest levels of the chemical. Those subjects with the highest levels of PFOS were 60% more likely than those with the lowest levels to have high total and LDL cholesterol.
Of course, the research isn’t strong proof that PFOA exposure raises cholesterol, but the findings warrant further study, because these potentially harmful chemicals are all around us.
Because the effects of PFOA are not yet known, the Environmental Protection Agency has asked DuPont and other companies to stop using the chemical by 2015. DuPont agreed to the ban and has pledged to phase out the chemical. before the deadline.
