NON-STICK frying pans may be polluting towns and cities with a chemical that
is almost impossible to destroy naturally.
Canadian scientists have found that materials used to coat pans, such as
Teflon, degrade when heated into trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), an extremely
persistent compound that stays in the environment. “All of the ‘dirty dozen’ are
relatively non-persistent compared to this,” says Scott Mabury of the University
of Toronto, referring to the United Nations’ top 12 blacklisted chemicals.
Surgical needles and engine additives are also made with fluorinated polymers
such as Teflon and Kel-F.
Until now, scientists have blamed TFA on hydrochlorofluorocarbons…
