Cape Karen
The EPA has recently put out a warning to consumers about a common chemical that is found in many household products we've all been using ~ for over 40 years!
I can't help but wonder what took them so long to decide this stuff is dangerous to our health?
(Why now, brown cow?)
First of all, I doubt that most of us are being exposed to dangerous amounts of PFOA; unless we happen to live in close proximity to a manufacturing plant that spews out clouds of this toxin on a daily basis ~ or if we are really inattentive cooks, and tend to leave our teflon pans burning on our stoves and in our ovens so that they reach temperatures of 600ยบ or more. If that's the case, then we've probably already burned down our houses, along with all our teflon pots, pans, cookie sheets and microwaveable popcorn bags, etc.
Is this just an over-reaction on the part of some chemist named Rip Van Winkle, who's been asleep at the switch, or what? According to the EPA: "PFOA is very persistent in the environment, and has been found at very low levels both in the environment and in the blood of the general U.S. population, and has caused developmental and other adverse effects in laboratory animals."
But, as soon as we read that EPA statement, we also come to this one, issued only after the big alert went out over the new wires last week.
"At present, there are no steps that EPA recommends that consumers take to reduce exposures to PFOA because the sources of PFOA in the environment and the pathways by which people are exposed are not known. Given the scientific uncertainties, EPA has not yet made a determination as to whether PFOA poses an unreasonable risk to the public. At the present time, EPA does not believe there is any reason for consumers to stop using any consumer or industrial related products that contain PFOA."
So why the alert? So why the news broadcasts? So why say anything at all? It sounds like a bunch of double-talk, double-speak, to me. I'm not throwing away my spatulas or teflon pans today. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go bake a big batch of chocolate-chip cookies on my double-lined, air-cushioned teflon cookie sheet right now.
If you don't hear from me for a while . . . call the EPA!
Posted by Karen at February 2, 2006 10:15 AM