The DuPont (makers of Teflon) plant in DeLisle, Mississippi has been releasing large amounts of dioxin and heavy metals for nearly 20 years. This is an excerpt from a documentary film about people in Mississippi who have become seriously ill because of the nearby plant, and how the environment too has been affected with evidence that oysters in the area exported for sale around the U.S. have been contaminated by DuPont's poisonous discharges. About 2,000 people have filed lawsuits against DuPont alleging pollution from this facility has harmed their health.
More information about this case can be found online: http://www.dupontsafetyrevealed.org/newjohnsonville.htm
Here are some videos that provide some more information about the dangers of teflon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz8Fk_pyl54&feature=related - Dr. Mercola founder of one of the most visited natural health sites on the web (www.mercola.com), and is the author of two New York Times Best Selling Books
Here is a lot of restaurants in the Montreal area that do not use Teflon cookware in the preparation of their meals:
(They can be recognized by the Teflon Free Sticker near the entrance)
Dundees
Pinos
Los Tios
Thursdays
Weinstein and Gavinos
Devi Indian Restaurant
As we continue spreading the word about our campaign, and speaking with the managers of restaurants we expect this list to grow to around 50 restaurants in the Montreal area...
The anti-teflon campaign was started out by two Management students as a project for a Social Context of Business Class.
My classmate and I have always felt strongly about the use of chemicals in everyday life, that cause serious illnesses and harm our environment. Recently a news story caught our eye about the illnesses experienced by workers in the DuPont factories, and in the communities around the production plant.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=124363
We both thought that in this day and age, especially with the scientific knowledge and research that is available to corporations there must be some awareness by the company about these effects, and surely there must be healthier and more sustainable alternatives. So when the it came to choosing a topic for this project we immediately chose to research Teflon, our main goal being to minimize the use of Teflon in restaurants and in everyday life, and to raise public awareness about the hazards of the substance.
In order to achieve this goal we created a plan for the semester:
1. Conduct extensive research on Teflon, and try to obtain an interview with a neutral healthcare professional.
- thus far in our research we have found that most studies are done by DuPont themselves, and their results are inconclusive.
2. Find out which restaurants in the Montreal area use Teflon cookware.
- internet, phone, personal interviews with managers
3. Contact local radio stations, and newspapers, as well as our school publications to get the word out
- the purpose is to educate the public about the health and environmental dangers that Teflon poses, because in reality most people who we have discussed this issue with had no idea how harmful Teflon really is.
4. Contact local government representatives to get an official emblem approved
- this emblem would appear on restaurants that do not use Teflon cookware, giving consumers the option to be more health and environmentally conscious
5. Once we have the emblem we would distribute it to restaurants in the Montreal area
It is our hope to expand this initiative to other Canadian cities in the future.
In chemistry, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene known by most under the DuPont brand name Teflon. It was invented accidentally in 1938 by Dr. Roy Plunkett when attempting to make a new CFC refrigerant (a class of chemical compounds that depletes ozone). It wasn’t until 1945 that DuPont patented the trademark, and the first pan coated with Teflon non-stick resin was created in 1954. The first frying pan was released to the general public in 1962 and was called “the happy pan.”
Dangers to Human Health
The reason Teflon cookware is so easy to clean is because its ultrafine particles are easily degradable, with thin layers coming off the pan during cooking. This is what makes it “nonstick”. More specifically, this decomposition begins to happen when the pan is heated above 260 °C (500 °F), causing the tiny particles to get inhaled/ingested and embedded deep inside the lungs and digestive system. 260 °C is a fairly common temperature in cooking, making it unreasonable to expect consumers to use the cookware without overheating it above that initial warning point. In a demo done by 20/20 news, a piece of bacon was just getting crisp when the Teflon pan reached that temperature.
The short-term effects of these ingested Teflon particles are flu-like symptoms in humans (headaches, chills, backache, and temperature between 100 and 104 degrees.) However, for smaller animals (and specifically for birds), they are lethal. In the long-term, the various chemicals that make-up Teflon (for instance ammonium perfluorooctanoate, or C-8 for short) have been linked to cancer, organ damage and other health effects in tests in both laboratory animals and humans.
However, the health risks aren’t limited to the consumers. The Teflon industry has reached the 2 billion per year mark, and the health of the workers producing it is also severely compromised. One of the biggest consequences of working in such extensive exposure to the substance is an extremely high incidence of birth defects among their children.
Dangers to the Environment Teflon off-gassing studies show that at the temperatures of conventional kitchen appliances, Teflon chemicals break apart to form the following particulates and gases:
· Two chemicals linked to cancer or tumors in laboratory studies (PFOA and TFE)
· Two chemicals that are potent global warming gases (PFB and CF4)
· Two chemical warfare agents (PFIB and MFA)
· A chemical analog of WWII nerve gas phosgene (COF2)
· At least two chemicals that have widely contaminated the world (PFOA and TFA), one currently undergoing a rigorous safety review at the Environmental Protection Agency (PFOA)
· Four gaseous chemicals and some components of the particulate matter that are highly persistent environmental pollutants, that likely never break down in the environment (TFA, PFOA, CF4, PFB, and the perfluorinated particulate alkanes)
· Four chemicals that are considered highly toxic relative to most other industrial chemicals (PFIB, MFA, COF2, HF).
The environmental effects of this substance are therefore very serious. Furthermore, Teflon not only pollutes the air but also contaminates the water system as particles are washed off when the cookware is cleaned after use. As well, the environment around the manufacturing plants suffers, which is particularly harmful to birds.
