What Is PFOA? A Guide to Nonstick Cookware Chemicals

Read our statement about Teflon and PTFE cookware

PFOA, PFAS, PFOS, PTFE: These are all acronyms you see a lot when looking at nonstick cookware. But what exactly are they? Are they really unsafe? And what should you do to avoid them (if anything)? 

We'll look at all of these chemicals--and a few others, as well--and help you sort it all out so you can make the right decision when buying cookware.

Introduction

Nonstick cookware was a revolutionary product when it first came out in 1954. But our body of knowledge has grown considerably since then, and today we know there are some chemicals that are better avoided. Many of these chemicals are in nonstick cookware.

When you buy nonstick cookware today, the marketing literature (including the Amazon writeup) is often full of acronyms. They're meant to make you feel better about buying the cookware, but what do all those acronyms really mean? And what about other dangerous chemicals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic?

We put together a list of chemicals--many of them acronyms for very long organic molecule chains--so you can learn once and for all what they really are, and feel confident you have all the information you need to buy the safest, healthiest cookware on the market.

Nonstick Cookware: A Brief Definition

You probably already know this information, but we're including this section to make sure we're all on the same page.

There are two types--and only two types--of nonstick cookware: 1) PTFE (aka Teflon), and 2) Ceramic nonstick.

Teflon cookware has been around for more than 60 years, while ceramic nonstick first appeared in around 2007--largely as a "safer, healthier" alternative to the PTFE cookware that was beginning to get a bad rap (deservedly so, in our opinion).

Ceramic nonstick cookware is perceived as the healthier choice, but some potential safety issues are coming to light about it, too: we discuss them in the section on titanium dioxide nanoparticles. All the rest of the chemicals are found in PTFE and Teflon cookware.

We share this basic info because there are hundreds of different trade names for PTFE (besides Teflon), and makers sometimes give the impression that their cookware is something new and different. They also use reinforcements as a name (e.g., titanium, diamond, granite, stone) to avoid calling their product PTFE (or worse, Teflon). But nonstick cookware can only be PTFE-based or nonstick-ceramic based.

There.are.no.other.options. 

Well-seasoned cast iron and carbon steel can perform very much like a nonstick pan (and they are a great option, especially cast iron), but they are not considered nonstick in the same sense as PTFE and nonstick ceramic.

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PTFE (Also Known as Teflon®)

Also Called: Teflon®.

What It Is and Where It's Found

PTFE is an acronym for polytetrafluoroethylene. It is a man-made, long-chain organic molecule--i.e., a hydrocarbon--derived from petroleum. It was discovered by Dupont chemist Roy Plunkett in 1938 (click that link to read more about this amazing discovery). Dupont called this discovery Teflon®.

PTFE is one of the most slippery substances on earth, which makes it useful for many applications. The most commonly known of these is nonstick Teflon cookware, but it is also used in many industrial processes, in common household products like plumber's tape and dental floss, and in medical implant devices. 

Besides having very low friction (i.e., slipperiness), PTFE is also a very stable, extremely inert compound. At normal temperatures, it is completely inert, which is what makes it excellent--and safe--for so many uses. 

Note: We should repeat here--just to get the point across--that PTFE and Teflon are the same thing. Teflon® is Dupont's original trade name for PTFE, and many people still today refer to PTFE pans as Teflon pans, regardless of the brand of PTFE on the pan. There are hundreds of different trade names for PTFE, but "teflon pan" has come to mean a nonstick PTFE pan in general.

Potential Dangers and Safety Issues of PTFE/Teflon

At low temperatures, PTFE is a stable, inert compound. This makes it great for in medical implant devices as well as many other applications.

But apply heat, and everything changes: PTFE begins to break down around 392F, although not in amounts considered dangerous to human health. Above about 500F, it begins to give off fumes that cause flu-like symptoms in humans and are lethal to birds: if you own a pet bird, you should not own any PTFE cookware.

(We say "around" 392 and "about" 500F because different sources give different temperatures. 392/500F are conservative figures.) 

You may be surprised at how easy it is to heat a pan to 500F: it can take less than 5 minutes for an empty pan to reach 500F on medium-high heat (and possibly even at medium heat, depending on the stove).

When Teflon/PTFE breaks down, it forms PFAS compounds, which you can read more about below. (PTFE itself is a PFAS a stable, non-reactive type of PFAS chemical.) These are toxic compounds that are related to a number of health issues in humans, including some cancers. They are also terrible for the environment, called "forever chemicals" because of their propensity to resist breaking down. 

For this reason, you should always use only low or medium heat on your nonstick pans and never allow them to heat up empty or unattended. 

Using low heat will also provide the longest life span of your PTFE/ Teflon cookware, as heat has a cumulative effect that takes its toll on the nonstick coating.

How to Avoid PTFE / Teflon Exposure

Since PTFE / Teflon is found in so many products, it's hard to completely avoid exposure. The good news is that at normal temperatures, it's an inert and completely safe compound, so avoiding it is largely unnecessary--although you should definitely avoid heating it to temps above about 392F.

But if you want to avoid exposure, don't buy PTFE/ Teflon cookware or other products that contain Teflon.

Sometimes, it can be hard to determine if nonstick cookware contains PTFE. Because news of PTFE's toxicity has gone mainstream in recent years, makers aren't always forthcoming with this information.

Our article, Nonstick Cookware Brands: PTFE or Ceramic? A Comprehensive Guide, can help you find PTFE-free nonstick cookware.

Or, you could just avoid nonstick cookware altogether and go with clad stainless, copper, or cast iron--all of which are excellent choices.

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PFOA

Also called: C8 (As depicted in this movie), perfluorinated compound (PFC).

What It Is and Where It's Found

PFOA is an acronym for perfluorooctanoic acid. Like PTFE, it is a long organic compound chain in the same chemical family as PTFE, but not inert like it. According to Wikipedia: "PFOA is one of many synthetic organofluorine compounds collectively known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)."

PFOA was a common chemical, used throughout the world in hundreds of industrial and manufacturing processes. For many decades, it was used to make PTFE nonstick cookware. For many decades, PFOA waste was dumped into water supplies in West Virginia and other states where it was made. This happened because there were no EPA regulations for these chemicals. It wasn't until the 1990s, when sicknesses around these chemical plants began to be noticed, that PFOA began being regulated by the EPA.

PFOA acted as the adhesive that helped PTFE adhere to cookware metals. It was almost completely used up in the manufacturing process, leaving very little, if any, in the finished product. PFOA has been detected in scratched PTFE cookware, but the amounts are so minute that PTFE / Teflon pans are not considered a significant source of PFOA, as this article states. 

Because of safety and environmental issues, the EPA asked American chemical companies and manufacturers to start phasing out PFOA in 2006 and quit using it completely by 2015. Today, PFOA is outlawed and no longer used in any American manufacturing.

Also, as of 2015, no PTFE cookware sold in the US contains PFOA, regardless of where it's made. This is true for many other parts of the world as well, so even nonstick cookware made in China and other countries with lax environmental policies rarely contains PFOA; there is simply not a market for it. 

However, PFOA is still found in other consumer goods made overseas, including carpeting, upholstery, apparel, floor wax, textiles, fire fighting foam, sealants, food packaging containers, and more.

Thus, it's difficult to avoid completely.

And, if you're wondering what manufacturers are using instead of PFOA, in cookware or any other products, you're thinking about the right stuff. We'll get to that in a minute. 

Potential Dangers and Safety Issues of PFOA

PFOA is an environmental hazard and is linked to a litany of human illnesses including:

• testicular cancer
• thyroid disorders
• kidney disease
• liver disease, infertility
• low birth weight.
• possibly associated with birth defects.

PFOA is a nasty, toxic chemical that is best avoided as much as possible. 

Though PFOA is banned--or voluntarily not used--in many countries, the damage was unfortunately done, largely by the nonstick cookware industry--still a multi-billion dollar industry and growing.

Today, traces of PFOA can be found in most water supplies throughout the world and in most human bodies: according to a 2016 EPA study, PFOA can be found in trace amounts (usually parts per billion) in an estimated 99% of Americans' blood streams. (Yes: 99%. That is a staggering number. It means PFOA is pretty much everywhere.)

The good news is that the levels of PFOA found in Americans have been decreasing steadily since companies phased out PFOA. 

How to Avoid PFOA Exposure

Since PFOA (as well as other PFAS chemicals, discussed below) is now found in the soil and water of every continent, it's nearly impossible to completely avoid exposure. According to Wikipedia, the most common sources of human exposure are food, drinking water, outdoor air, indoor air, dust, and food packaging.

People exposed from their drinking water tend to have the highest levels of PFOA in their systems. 

Food packaging rarely contains actual PFOA, but much packaging contains fluorotelomer coatings, used because they repel oil. The problem is that these coatings can break down into PFOA and other dangerous perfluorinated compounds (PFCs)--particularly when containing hot food.

Such packaging includes candy wrappers, fast food wrappers, pizza box linings, microwave popcorn, and more. According to this article, as much as 20% of the PFOA in a person's system can be attributed to eating microwave popcorn.

Food packagers in the US stopped using PFOA in 2011, but continued using other PFCs until 2016. Today, all the food packaged in the US is free of PFCs. Unfortunately, there is little known about what has replaced them, so it's hard to say how safe the new packaging really is.

As for nonstick cookware, PFOA is almost completely used up in the manufacturing process. Traces of it have been detected in cookware made prior to 2015, but even older nonstick cookware is not considered a significant source of PFOA. You are likely to get higher exposure levels from your drinking water than from any nonstick cookware. 

The most common way for nonstick cookware to expose you to PFOA or similar chemicals is through scratches. If the scratch goes below the PTFE pan surface, it may release small amounts of PFOA-like chemicals. Any scratched Teflon cookware should be considered unsafe to use.

Installing a filtration system for your drinking water is one of the best things you can do to lower your PFOA exposure--Reverse Osmosis being one of the most effective options according to the EPA. 

See our article on the Best Reverse Osmosis Filters for Your Home for more information.

You may also want to avoid packaged microwave popcorn (though that may not be as much of a concern as it was prior to 2016).

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PFAS

Also called perfluorinated compounds (PFCs); PFOA is also called C8.

What They Are and Where They're Found

PFAS is an acronym for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). This is a chemical family containing many different compounds, including PFOA (discussed above) and PFOS and GenX (discussed below). PTFE (Teflon) is a stable PFAS.

PFAS chemicals are found in food packaging (as discussed above), stain repellants, firefighting foams, and many other products. They are found in nonstick cookware most commonly as PFOA (prior to 2015) and GenX (since 2015). However, some nonstick cookware is now labeled "PFAS-free."  

"PFAS-free" sounds good, right? Because if nonstick cookware is labeled "PFAS-free," this means that it contains no chemicals at all from this family of organic compounds: no PFOA and no GenX (the most common replacement for PFOA). All true. 

This is probably good. However, without knowing what a manufacturer is using instead (they have to be using something), we can't say for sure that PFAS-free is an improvement. 

Potential Dangers and Safety Issues of PFAS

As far as we can tell, all the potential dangers of PFOA discussed above apply to other PFAS as well. That is, they are long-lasting environmental contaminants that are now found in most water supplies throughout the world, as well as being the suspected cause of several medical issues, including some types of cancer. 

While not all PFAS behave exactly the same way, we can say that all PFAS are likely sources of environmental contamination as well the cause of several health concerns in humans. 

PFAS are best avoided whenever possible.

How to Avoid PFAS Exposure

Because of all the PFAS present in the environment, you can't completely eliminate exposure, but you can decrease exposure by taking some precautions. 

Probably the most important one is (again) to use a filtration system on your drinking water.

As for modern food packaging, it's hard to say. Changes have been made, but there are too many unknowns about what PFAS have been replaced with to say that they're completely safe. 

Nonstick PTFE / Teflon cookware was never a significant source of PFAS, so we think it's probably safe when used correctly (that is, never at heat above medium, and it's a good idea to avoid using scratched or degraded Teflon pans). 

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PFOS

What It Is and Where It's Found

PFOS stands for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. It is in the PFAS family and closely related to PFOA (both discussed above).

PFOS was the main ingredient in 3M's Scotchgard stain repellent. Scotchgard has replaced the PFOS with perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), which is less toxic to humans and considered an environmental hazard.

We don't know if PFOS was ever used in making PTFE cookware, but we include it here because some brands of nonstick cookware are labeled "PFOS-free." It it was, it's as toxic and hazardous to the environment as PFOA. 

PFOS has largely been phased out of production in the US, but may still be found in products made overseas, including stain repellents, firefighting foam, food packaging materials, and possibly other products. 

Potential Dangers and Safety Issues

PFOS is considered a "global pollutant" and, like PFOA and other PFAS, is found on every continent and in most water supplies around the world. 

From Wikipedia: "According to a 2002 study by the Environmental Directorate of the OECD, PFOS is persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic to mammalian species." 

Therefore, you can assume that PFOS is likely to have most or all of the same dangers as PFOA and other chemicals in the PFAS family.

How to Avoid PFOS Exposure

This will also be the same as for PFOA and PFAS above: water, food packaging, and consumer products from overseas. The biggest of these is (again) your drinking water, so you should consider installing an RO filtration system, which the EPA says does a great job of filtering out all PFAS. 

We don't think nonstick cookware is a source of PFOS.

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GenX: The New PFOA

What They Are and Where They're Found

GenX refers is a family of shorter chain compounds in the PFAS family. Dupont began using GenX compounds in 2009 as a replacement for PFOA in many of their products, including nonstick cookware coatings.

Being part of the PFAS family and used in similar products for similar purposes, you can assume that GenX chemicals are going to be found in most of the same places as other PFAS, including cookware (made after 2015) and water supplies. 

Potential Dangers and Safety Issues

You'd think that because GenX chemicals replaced nasty PFAS like PFOA that they are a safer and less toxic chemical. However, that doesn't appear to be the case.

According