DuPont: Non-stick cookware safe
By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-21 02:08

Chemical giant DuPont is rushing to quell unease among Chinese users of non-stick, Teflon-coated cookware.

In a rare press conference on "fluoropolymer and cookware safety" Tuesday in Beijing, Charles Browne, President of DuPont China Holding Co Ltd, said its Teflon coated non-stick cookware is not hazardous to human health.

"The evidence from over 50 years of experience and extensive scientific studies supports our conclusion that PFOA does not harm human health or the environment," Browne said.

PFOA, or C-8, is a substance used to manufacture fluoropolymers, including DuPont's Teflon, which is widely used to make non-stick cookware in China and around the world.

Earlier this month, the US Environmental Protection Agency alleged at a press conference that DuPont had failed to comply with technical reporting requirements of the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Resource Conservation Recovery Act regarding PFOA.

Reiterating DuPont will file a formal denial to the complaint within 30 days, Browne said the US agency's allegation had been somehow "misinterpreted" in some Chinese media, which partly fuelled the current consumer unease about non-stick pans.

The unproven allegations prompted some Chinese retailers to pull Teflon-coated cooking implements from the shelves.

Some reports said Teflon- coated non-stick cookware was labeled hazardous to human health, while Tom Skinner, an official of the US agency, stressed no determination was made at the press conference about potential health hazards of C-8.

Browne said he spoke with China's quality supervision agency Tuesday afternoon to give them all the tools necessary to verify that DuPont Teflon non-stick pans are safe.

"We are confident that they'll arrive at the same conclusion that we have," he said.

"We'll continue to provide data and science to help consumers make well-informed choices."

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the country's top quality watchdog, said it had put together a panel of experts to test whether the Teflon coating was harmful to human health and the result was expected to be released in September.

Commenting on the impact of the case on the sales of non-stick cookware worldwide, David Boothe, another DuPont official, said most Chinese-made Teflon cookware is exported to the US and European markets, where no effects have been felt.

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