Should a canary be mandatory in your kitchen?

[Bushmiller]

About 25yrs ago when I was working in manufacturing industry, my engineered plastics supplier gave me a roll of "Tygaflor".
Basically glass reinforced industrial teflon sheeting for heat transferring and we have used it in cooking ever since [oven, grill & BBQ].
Now Paul you've got me concerned about using this product??
It's similar to the product on this website - Cammthane : Tygaflor
Cheers, crowie

Peter

Your product description says it is unaffected by temperature. There again the tobacco companies denied that smoking could harm your health .

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

Paul, if you ingest teflon it will pass straight thru as it will not dissolve or break down in any digestive juices. The most concentrated acid in the human digestive system is strong hydrochloric acid but telfon will withstand acid 10,000 time more concentrated than this under pressure at 150ºC for many weeks and not bat an eyelid. I've had some forms of it up to 210ºC with a mixture of concentrated nitric, HF and perchorlic acid and it does not dissolve.

Bugger, while typing this I burnt some fish in the teflon coated frypan!!!!!!

Thanks Bob

I think you are trying to reassure me . My own belief is that Teflon toxicosis in varying degrees is real. There are so many things around us in modern life that are potentially harmful (mainly in a cumulative way) I will still be looking at turfing the Teflon gear. I prefer cast iron anywhere, although I haven't seen one with a 240V plug in it .

Regards
Paul

[Master Splinter]

The last pyrolytic self-cleaning oven I had, the self clean button locked the oven door so that the inside of the oven could be raised to 500C for a few hours while the process of pyrolysis broke down the organics, so I don't think self cleaning ovens use teflon to achieve self cleaning; they'll sometimes use catalytic coatings to speed up pyrolysis.

Really, you have to look at the relative risk; you're already cooking with something (butter or oil) that will start producing dangerous compounds at anywhere between 100-200C and flash into flame at 300C, yet people don't perceive the risk of vegetable oil smoke or vegetable oil fires as inherently as dangerous as teflon, as they see vegetable oil as a "natural substance". (even though four out of five house fires start in the kitchen)

I guess it's like saying arc welders are dangerous because your jeans caught fire when you let the red hot welding rod rest on them, rather than taking precautions to make sure you don't touch flammable things with a red hot bit of metal.

Even the very process of cooking meat creates carcinogens: grilling and frying promotes the formation of benzo[a]pyrene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (known carcinogens) as well as forming heterocyclic amines (more carcinogens), so from a full health perspective you'd do better by keeping the teflon pan, ditching the oil, and boiling your next slab of porterhouse in nice fresh water. But don't drink alcohol with your yummy boiled steak, as alcohol is a cancer promoter.

And what are you doing when you 'season' a cast iron pan? Nothing more than baking carcinogens into the pores of the iron, that's what (and filling the kitchen with carcinogenic smoke...)!

(Aldi currently has it's good but el-cheapo teflon pans on sale, by the way).

[doug3030]

[QUOTE=BobL;1696095]telfon will withstand acid 10,000 time more concentrated than this under pressure at 150ºC for many weeks and not bat an eyelid./QUOTE]

An interesting concept, teflon eyelids, and possibly other spare body parts, presumably for people who cant stand the heat?

Cheers

Doug

[Master Splinter]

I found this piece (about the 'Environmental Working Group' that did the 'Canaries in your kitchen' article) interesting.
Environmental Working Group Background, Funding, Controversies

"One of the worst things that the Environmental Working Group has done is contribute to the myth that vaccines are leading to a spike in autism in America’s children. In 2004, the EWG published the paper “Overloaded? New Science, new insights about mercury and autism in children.” The paper reported that there are “serious concerns about the studies that have allegedly proven the safety of mercury in vaccines” and stoked fears that childhood vaccines like those for Measles, Mumps and Rubella are responsible for increased incidences of autism."

What's the real story with vaccines?
Anti-Vaccine Body Count

[Bushmiller]

(Aldi currently has it's good but el-cheapo teflon pans on sale, by the way).

Master S

I did see those when I had a few minutes to kill when down in NSW. I nearly bought some for SWMBO and then I remembered her words never to buy her pots and pans for special occasions. I also was mindful of how much they would hurt if they contacted my head .

Regards
Paul

[Master Splinter]

Ohhh...yeah - 5mm thick aluminium would really hurt....no denting that with your skull....

[rrich]

This is going back to the "Apollo Project". (Mid to late 1960s.)

NASA was then at their anal retentive best. As we were building the support equipment (as I'm sure the same rules applied to the blokes building the capsules) NASA was concerned about wires being nicked by the insulation stripping tools. To this end, they devised a thermal wire stripping device. (Worked well on small diameter wires but was h*** on large wires. On wires with rubber insulation it really stunk up the shop.) The general specification for wiring directed that we were not to use thermal strippers on Teflon insulated wire due to the hazardous fumes.

That being said, according to building codes only Teflon insulated category 5 or 6 wiring may be used in the air return plenum of commercial buildings due to fire concerns.

I hope that your government regulations are established using more intelligence than ours.

As for the Teflon coating on cookware, I doubt that there is enough Teflon in the coating to create hazardous fumes under any conditions. More urban / Internet myth???

[Bushmiller]

Ohhh...yeah - 5mm thick aluminium would really hurt....no denting that with your skull....

Master S

Alas, I think you may have taken me too literally: My fault, I omitted the smiley face. There again I hadn't considered it was necessary .

However, if I was going to be hit on the head with a frypan, at a density of roughly one third of cast iron, I would prefer it was aluminium.

You may also be interested to know the origins of ActivistCash, the reference that seeks to discredit EWG.

ActivistCash.com is a web site affiliated with the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), a front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries. ActivistCash.com was launched in November 2001. For more, see the SourceWatch article on A visit to the ActivistCash.com web site.
ActivistCash.com was created by Berman & Co., a public affairs firm owned by lobbyist Rick Berman. Based in Washington, DC, Berman & Co. represents the tobacco industry as well as hotels, beer distributors, taverns, and restaurant chains.
In a 1999 interview with the Chain Leader, a trade publication for restaurant chains, Berman boasted that he attacks activists more aggressively than other lobbyists. "We always have a knife in our teeth," he said. Since activists "drive consumer behavior on meat, alcohol, fat, sugar, tobacco and caffeine," his strategy is "to shoot the messenger. ... We've got to attack their credibility as spokespersons."
ActivistCash.com was established for precisely this purpose. It attempts to discredit activists by suggesting that there is something disreputable about the money they have received from foundations.

Incidentally, EWG is just one concerned group. I was reluctant to list too many links lest I become (more) tedious .

It would seem that everybody has an agenda .

Regards
Paul

[A Duke]

It always amazes me how all the unbiased reports always come out in favour of the mob paying for the survey.
Maybe I am biased.
Regards

[BobL]

Just been to the docs to address a raft of issues including this flu that I have had for nearly 5 weeks.

Another issue is an umbilical hernia which seems to be getting a bit bigger in the last few months. I asked the doc what the deal is and he says firstly my guts won't explode outwards which is good, so the main reasons for the moment would be cosmetic. Apparently they fix it by implanting a teflon mesh internally across the belly button and stitch it all up. Rather amusing that we were talking teflon over the last few days.

[Timless Timber]

Another issue is an umbilical hernia which seems to be getting a bit bigger in the last few months. I asked the doc what the deal is and he says firstly my guts won't explode outwards which is good, so the main reasons for the moment would be cosmetic. Apparently they fix it by implanting a teflon mesh internally across the belly button and stitch it all up. Rather amusing that we were talking teflon over the last few days.

Had it done in 2008 Bob.

Been OK since, but I don't lift many Jarrah slabs any more these days coz it can re-tear apparently.

I guess if the dust don't kill me, then the teflon pad likely will.

It was worth getting done Bob, it's more than cosmetic - after a while the herniated umbilicus starts to hurt - it doesn't get any better on its own - only worse as the skin stretches.

Get it fixed - you won't regret doing so in my experience.

And you can still cut slabs - just get someone younger and fitter to lift em for you from now on! No good getting old, if you don't get cunning! Age & cunning overcomes youth and exuberance every time!.

Cheers

[rustynail]

A good cook doesnt need a teflon pan.
When i first left school I headed for the bush to work. My first job was with a family who grew hay on a pretty large scale. The boss was a big fella, well over 6 feet and about 18 stone. The Misses was a tiny but wild thing who took no crap. One evening, the boss was drying up and made some remark the "cook took exception to, so she let fly with the electric frypan, hitting the boss in the back of the head! Blood everywhere! It was my job to take him to hospital to have his head stitched.
Some years later, the pair were shopping for a new frypan "The Wild Thing" suggested she would like to try teflon,
as she picked one up for a look. The old boss agreed that it may be a good idea as it would be more inclined to slip off his head. "The Wild Thing" promptly turned and clouted him on the head with the frypan. Apparently, the teflon afforded him no protection whatsoever.

[Bushmiller]

"The Wild Thing" promptly turned and clouted him on the head with the frypan. Apparently, the teflon afforded him no protection whatsoever.

RN



Teflon has earned it's place in the Guinness Book of Records as the most slippery surface on the planet.

Regards
Paul

[Master Splinter]

Would anyone in Queensland like to check that geckos can't stick to teflon? It's supposed to be immune to van der waals interactions....