Saturday, January 2, 2010

Which nonstick cookware is safe for cooking ? - your opinion helps

It is well known that some cookwares are safe when cooking. But none of these safe cookwares has good nonstick performance as nonstick cookware does. I have been looking for a good and safe nonstcik cookware for a while. But I am dispointed and reluctant to do it now because many of the nonstick cookwares on the market  are not really safe.

Many people know that traditional Teflon nonstick cookware is not safe because Teflon contains some dnagerous chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)—also known as C-8, which has been shown to cause cancer, low birth weight and a suppressed immune system in laboratory animals exposed to high doses of PFOA.  Teflon also releases toxic fumes at high temperatures and leads to many birth death each yaer. Although the effects of PFOA at lower doses in humans are disputed, there does seem to be a link between PFOA and raised levels of cholesterol.

Some cookware manufacturers  try to avoid the bad reputation of Teflon and claim that they don't use Teflon for their nonstick cookware coating. And thus their nonstick cookwares are safe because they use different materials or improved manufacturing processes. It is kind of true that they don't use Teflon because Teflon is a TM of DuPont. There might be some difference between these chemicals and Teflon. Some chemicals might contain less PFOA or other toxic substance. But the chemicals they used are basically similar to Teflon. It seems to be impossible to eliminate all toxic particle by improving manufacture process either.  So safety is still a concern even though new generations of nonstick chemicals make nonstick cookware coating harder and more scratch-resistant. These cookwares include nonstick titanium cookwares, titanium ceramic cookwares and Swiss diamond cookwares etc. Don't be fulled by the names of these nonstick cookwares because none of these nonstick cookware  coatingsare nade of titanium or diamond. It is probablye that they are made of the same or similar chemical as Teflon.

There are some other nonstick cookwares on the market like Greenpan Cookware, ManPans Green Cookware, Dr. Mercola's Ceramic Cookware etc.  I don't know if their are really safe and I can't find out by myself. I wish experts and people with insight or experience can put their comments or suggestion here. You can comment or suggest any nonstcik cookware here freely because this blog is all about cookware safety and is not related to any commercials. Your opinion will help consumers like me to find and identify a real safe nonstick cookware for cooking. Thanks in advance.