Warning – REPORT OF FINDINGS OF DR. H.A.MCGUIGAN FOR THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION IN DOCKET CASE NO. 540, WASHINGTON, D.C. Read more

• Boiling water in aluminum produces hydroxide poison.
• Boiling an egg in aluminum produces phosphate.
• Boiling meat in aluminum produces chloride.
• Frying bacon in aluminum produces a powerful narcotic acid, which in large doses causes comas, or in excessive doses causes death.
• All vegetables cooked in aluminum produce hydroxide poison, which neutralizes the digestive juices, robbing them of their value to digest food, producing stomach and gastrointestinal trouble, such as stomach ulcers, and colitis.
• Aluminum poison will produce acidosis, which destroys the red cells producing a condition similar to anemia.
• The sale of aluminum cooking utensils is prohibited in Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland, Hungary and Brazil.

This Committee did not originate the above statements. They could be substantiated if there were any way of getting at information in a report classed as “confidential” by the F.T.C. No one has any means of knowing just what the Commission “has found” relative to the safety or harmful effects of aluminum utensils.

Dr. Charles T. Betts, of Toledo, Ohio (now deceased), who made an intensive study of this subject, issued in 1954 a pamphlet entitled “How Does this Government Suppress the Truth About Aluminum?” This is now out of print. Below are a few excerpts there from:

In 1920, a Federal agency was given the task to determine if or not the ingestion of aluminum compounds causes illness, sickness, disease (cancer) or death.

The first serial was published July 1st, 1948, of Edward M.Averill’s report, Docket 540, Federal Trade Commission. On August 20th, I received the second notice from the F.T.C. Secretary, O.B. Johnson, that it is still a confidential document – 25 years after it was rendered – even though public funds, possibly $7,500.00 were used to secure the facts.

It seems impossible that a Federal authority would put such information in a closed file and still worse that they use every means at their command to prevent us from seeing it.

Edward M. Averill was appointed to open the case in 1920. it took over five years , 158 witnesses were called, 1000 exhibits examined, and 4711 closely typewritten pages of testimony taken. More than a quarter of a century has passed since his report was rendered, and so far as we know not one word has reached a single citizen for his health protection.

Dr. Betts got hold of a copy of Averill’s “purported official report” and decided to publish it. The F.T.C. got wind of this, and informed Dr. Betts: “Be advised Commission regards report as confidential documentation and its publication in whole or in part is highly improper … I have affixed the seal of the Federal Trade Commission to the letter, and this seal, according to the statute, shall be judicially noticed.”

(Signed: Otis B. Johnson, Sec’y)

DuPont, Now in the Frying Pan — By Amy Cortese — TEFLON has been hugely successful for DuPont, which over the last half-century has made the material almost ubiquitous, putting it not just on the frying pans but also on carpets, fast food packaging, clothing, eyeglasses and electrical wires – even the fabric roofs covering football stadiums.
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Now DuPont has to worry that Teflon and the materials used to make it have perhaps become a bit too ubiquitous. Teflon constituents have found their way into rivers, soil, wild animals and humans, the company, government environmental officials and others say. Evidence suggests that some of the materials, known to cause cancer and other problems in animals, may be making people sick.

While it remains one of DuPont’s most valuable assets, Teflon has also become a potentially huge liability. The Environmental Protection Agency filed a complaint last month charging the company with withholding evidence of its own health and environmental concerns about an important chemical used to manufacture Teflon. That would be a violation of federal environmental law, compounded by the possibility that DuPont covered up the evidence for two decades.

DuPont contends that it met its legal reporting obligations, and said that it plans to file a formal response this week.

If an E.P.A. administrative judge does not agree, the agency could fine the company up to $25, 000 a day from the time DuPont learned of potential problems with the chemical two decades ago until Jan 30, 1997, when the agency’s fines were raised, and $27,500 a day since then. The total penalty could reach $300 million. The agency is also investigating whether the suspect chemical, a detergent like substance called perfluorooctanoic acid, is harmful to human health, and how it has become so pervasive in the environment. The chemical which is more commonly known as PFOA or C-8, for the number of carbon atoms in its molecular structure has turned up in the blood of more than 90 percent of Americans, according to samples taken from blood banks by the 3M Company beginning in the mid-90’s. Until it got out of the business in 2000, 3M was the biggest supplier of PFOA. DuPont promptly announced it would begin making the substance itself.

The E.P.A. is auditing 3M to determine if there were any civil violations of environmental law involving its chemically related products, Cynthia Bergman, a spokeswoman for the agency, said. The E.P.A.’s action on July 8 prompted the Chinese government to begin its own study on the safety of Teflon, and some stores there pulled Teflon-coated pans from their shelves, the government-run China Daily newspaper reported.

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Nuking Broccoli A No-No — Microwaving Zaps Antioxidants in Broccoli — By Jean Nick Read more

In the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Cristina Garcia-Viguera reports on a study that measured antioxidant levels in broccoli after it was cooked in various ways. Microwaved broccoli had the lowest levels of antioxidants (less than 5% of the original antioxidants found in fresh broccoli remained), probably because of the high internal temperatures generated by this cooking method. Boiling wasn’t a good way to retain antioxidants either, with only about 20% of them preserved in the food (about 35% if the cooking water was used as well). Pressure-cooking was slightly better, with about 46% being retained in the food (about 91% if the cooking water was used as well). Steaming retained about 89% of the antioxidants. Of course, you could just eat your broccoli raw and get the full dose.

Jean Nick is a Senior Information Analyst with the Rodale Library & Information Services Department.

In two to five minutes on a conventional stovetop, cookware coated with Teflon and other non-stick surfaces can exceed temperatures at which the coating breaks apart and emits toxic particles and gases linked to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pet bird deaths and an unknown number of human illnesses each year, according to tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG).  Read more

In new tests conducted by a university food safety professor, a generic non-stick frying pan preheated on a conventional, electric stovetop burner reached 736°F in three minutes and 20 seconds, with temperatures still rising when the tests were terminated. A Teflon pan reached 721°F in just five minutes under the same test conditions (See Figure 1), as measured by a commercially available infrared thermometer. DuPont studies show that the Teflon offgases toxic particulates at 446°F. At 680°F Teflon pans release at least six toxic gases, including two carcinogens, two global pollutants, and MFA, a chemical lethal to humans at low doses. At temperatures that DuPont scientists claim are reached on stovetop drip pans (1000°F), non-stick coatings break down to a chemical warfare agent known as PFIB, and a chemical analog of the WWII nerve gas phosgene.

For the past fifty years DuPont has claimed that their Teflon coatings do not emit hazardous chemicals through normal use. In a recent press release, DuPont wrote that "significant decomposition of the coating will occur only when temperatures exceed about 660 degrees F (340 degrees C). These temperatures alone are well above the normal cooking range."

These new tests show that cookware exceeds these temperatures and turns toxic through the common act of preheating a pan, on a burner set on high.

In cases of "Teflon toxicosis," as the bird poisonings are called, the lungs of exposed birds hemorrhage and fill with fluid, leading to suffocation. DuPont acknowledges that the fumes can also sicken people, a condition called "polymer fume fever." DuPont has never studied the incidence of the fever among users of the billions of non-stick pots and pans sold around the world. Neither has the company studied the long-term effects from the sickness, or the extent to which Teflon exposures lead to human illnesses believed erroneously to be the common flu.

The government has not assessed the safety of non-stick cookware. According to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food safety scientist: "You won't find a regulation anywhere on the books that specifically addresses cookwares," although the FDA approved Teflon for contact with food in 1960 based on a food frying study that found higher levels of Teflon chemicals in hamburger cooked on heat-aged and old pans. At the time, FDA judged these levels to be of little health significance.

Of the 6.9 million bird-owning households in the US that claim an estimated 19 million pet birds, many don't know know that Teflon poses an acute hazard to birds. Most non-stick cookware carries no warning label. DuPont publicly acknowledges that Teflon can kill birds, but the company-produced public service brochure on bird safety discusses the hazards of ceiling fans, mirrors, toilets, and cats before mentioning the dangers of Teflon fumes.

As a result of the new data showing that non-stick surfaces reach toxic temperatures in a matter of minutes, EWG has petitioned the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to require that cookware and heated appliances bearing non-stick coatings must carry a label warning of the acute hazard the coating poses to pet birds. Additionally, we recommend that bird owners completely avoid cookware and heated appliances with non-stick coatings. Alternative cookware includes stainless steel and cast iron, neither of which offgases persistent pollutants that kill birds.

Can Teflon make you sick? Teflon, one of the most popular non-stick pan products, can emit fumes that make you sick if it is allowed to get hot enough. Read more

According to ABCNews, the makers of Teflon have known about the problems for years.

To learn about the health problem, ABCNews went to the kitchen with members of the Environmental Working Group.

They say that when a Teflon coated pan reaches 554-degrees, ultra-fine particles start coming off the pan. The particles can imbed in the lungs and lead to "Teflon Flu."

The illness causes flu-like symptoms, including headache, backache, and a temperature between 100 and 104 degrees.

The hotter a Teflon pan gets, the more chemicals are released and at 680 degrees, six toxic gases can begin to come off of heated Teflon.

The Teflon flu is something DuPont has known about for years and with normal cooking, pans don't get hot enough to present a problem.

In a test done by ABCNews, a piece of bacon was just beginning to get crisp when a Teflon pan went past the initial danger point of 500 degrees -- the temperature Dupont says is never exceeded under normal cooking conditions at home.

The federal government is now conducting an urgent review of the chemical involved in making Teflon for possible long-term harm.

EWG in the News — Latest docs revealed in advance of pending enforcement action. From EWG's report...
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By: Fred Pace
Register-Herald
November 24, 2003

Some local residents say they are going to throw away their Teflon and other nonstick products after watching a recent television report that said nonstick products have the potential to make humans sick.

"That report scared me to death," said Jennifer Baker of Beckley, who was shopping for nonstick cookware on Thursday. "I have been using Teflon products for years. Many times I felt bad and felt like I had a fever and flu-like symptoms. I just thought I had the flu, but now I wonder if it could have been from using products with Teflon coating."

Mary McCarty of Shady Spring said she did not even know that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was studying whether Teflon and related products pose a health risk to humans.

"Ihad no idea," she said. "Shouldn't there be warning labels on the products? What are the health risks?"

Recent studies indicate flu-like symptoms can occur when cooking with Teflon-related products. The "Teflon flu" could be causing millions of Americans to get sick each year and may be responsible for several birth defects in newborns, according to a recent report by ABC's "20/20" news program.

U.S. Urged to Put Warning Labels on Teflon Cookware — Source: Reuters, Published: May 15, 2003 — The Environmental Working Group asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require manufactures of cookware to place warning labels on their products that caution consumers of the potential health risks of the non-stick coating. Read more

Teflon in a Sticky Situation  — Children's Health Environment Coalition
DuPont's Teflon® works wonders at keeping food from sticking to pots and pans. But after 50 years of use, evidence is mounting that Teflon's key ingredient, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), "sticks" in the environment indefinitely. Environmental health advocates are concerned that exposure to environmental PFOA as well as to airborne fumes released when nonstick cookware overheats may be more toxic than realized. Read more