delete
EDIT 2: I think they are non-toxic and inert. But I tried to find my source for this and I am failing badly. so deleting this comment
EDIT: I agree they are very waste full since they do not live that long. I have owned three non-stick pans, my cast iron pans have outlived all of them by decades.
PFAS (which is what makes nonstick nonstick) have tentative links to several cancers [1]
[1] https://dceg.cancer.gov/research/what-we-study/pfas
It's worth noting that all "forever chemicals" have major health concerns. PFAS, as a class, is the one most studied. They have been explicitly banned in many countries (e.g. France and Sweden) and even some US states (Maine, Minnesota, etc).
But it's a bit like how the DEA has to update their list of banned substances multiple times a month because people keep coming up with new designer drugs and "research chemicals" that aren't technically banned.
I think a broader umbrella term might be POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) though that might also be too broad to be useful. A lot of times it's their non-stick properties themselves that make them so toxic, especially to fish and smaller organisms.
PTFE is perfectly safe as long as you don’t get it too hot. So, not the best material for non-stick pans.
The thread tape on all non-compression screw-type plumbing fittings is made of PTFE, and so is Gore-Tex.
I’m well aware of the danger of PFAS, my local watershed is contaminated with it from a 3M plant.
You can use pipe dope instead of PTFE if you want. It's just more expensive.
Non-stick pans are fine if they are never heated above 500°F (260°C) and never scratched. In general, you probably shouldn't regularly use a nonstick pan for longer than 2 years.
If it is scratched or heated above what it says on the label, then yes it is absolutely toxic.
I'd love to know more. I'm sure that I've scratched and overheated every pan I own.
Why is scratched a problem? They use the same stuff in medical implants. It is chemically inert if you don't overheat it right?
Isn't that the problem? From what I am googling right now, the maximum tempreature of my stove is absolutely above the threshold where it stops being chemically inert. If we were talking about some usage that didn't involve heating, then I guess maybe I'd hear out a usage for it, but even then, not sure the benefits are worth having something that can't degrade and yet can potentially get ingested by my body.
PTFE is very inert, but that doesn't mean that I want to eat more of it than I have to. And as a practical matter: Once it begins flaking off, more tends to follow. I don't know if that's because of oxidation of the aluminum, or what, but it sure seems to behave that way.
I mean, I'm not too awful worried about it compared to my adventures in 3D printing (with its crusty PTFE Bowden tubes).
But I very deliberately have just exactly one Teflon-coated pan in my house, and it only gets used for exactly one purpose: Making scrambled eggs with a rubber spatula. (I like my eggs scrambled sometimes, and I'm not pro-enough to make it work with cast iron or stainless cookware.)
... or just avoid the risk entirely.