Industry groups and lobbyists that represent companies intentionally adding PFAS to their cookware have made bold public claims about the safety of PFAS in cookware, bakeware, and other food-contact materials.
(They’ve even run ads claiming that states like Maine have banned most home coffee makers, seeming to imply that there aren’t many PFAS-free way to make coffee – it’s honestly weird. There are plenty of coffee makers that are PFAS-free, including from brands that participate in the industry group that ran the ads!)
In brief, they claim that PFAS plastics (fluoropolymers) are a special safe type of PFAS, different from all the rest of this recognized chemical class, and that they therefore deserve a special exemption from disclosure, reporting, and sales bans that protect consumers from exposure to PFAS forever chemicals.
But here are the FACTS:
- Consumers don’t want PFAS in their cookware — some of these PFAS industry groups sued Minnesota to try and overturn their PFAS cookware sales ban and PFAS reporting requirements, suggesting that the law would lead to injury to their brands’ reputations, consumer goodwill, and brand loyalty. But they could avoid reputational harm and the impacts of any state-level sales bans by just phasing out PFAS in their products, like many cookware brands have already done.
- The entire class of PFAS forever chemicals have been regulated by California, Maine, Minnesota, Colorado, Connecticut, and other states because the scientific evidence makes it clear that the entire class of PFAS chemicals are known or suspected to contribute to adverse effects in humans, animals, or in ecological communities.
- The lack of evidence of specific harms from a specific PFAS is not the same as proof of safety. Scientific evidence of specific harm from specific chemicals can take decades to fully document – for example, increased cancer risk from a chemical exposure can take 20 or 30 years to start showing up in communities, and even longer for scientists to fully document in peer reviewed research. But the chemical industry keeps creating new PFAS chemicals and US EPA keeps approving them with minimal review, so scientists have agreed that the class-based definition of PFAS is the best way to prevent both known and unknown harms caused by these forever chemicals.
- Finally, there is a lot of evidence that those PFAS plastics – fluoropolymers – are not safe for people, animals, or the environment.
If you’ve heard enough and want to find out which cookware brands publicly disclose using PFAS, check out our directory of over 200 cookware companies’ public Materials Disclosures.
You can also dig deeper into the health and safety data around PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), one of the PFAS still being used in some cookware.
Want to learn more?
- Return to the homepage
- Search the Cookware Brand Chemicals Disclosure Directory
- Detox your kitchen! A few simple steps can reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals starting today
- Learn how state laws are improving cookware safety nationwide
- Find out why scientists and policymakers define PFAS as a class of toxic chemicals
- Dig in to what the experts say about PTFE, the PFAS plastic most commonly used in cookware
- Take Action: Demand that big retailers and cookware brands stop selling PFAS cookware nationwide!
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