April 6 , 1938 , was one of those days which changed the world . A untested research scientist , working at the chemical substance company DuPont to prepare new type of refrigerant , instead found that a accelerator known as tetrafluoroethylene , or TFE , had unintentionally polymerize inside one of his test metro , resulting in a solid waxy substance with extreme heat - opposition , depleted surface friction , and in high spirits corrosion resistance properties .
This uncanny new material , ab initio called Teflon , or PTFE , would pretty presently witness its manner into every look of life . It toy a vital part in the Manhattan Project ; it would be woven into rainproof coat and space suits ; and most famously of all , it would find a piazza in just about every kitchen in the land . Its tradename : Teflon .
But fast - forward more than 70 years , and Teflon is no longer the miracle chemical substance it was once celebrated as . Today , it ’s more noted as one of the many “ forever chemicals ” – the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances , known more familiarly as PFASs , whichare ubiquitousin ourwater supply , ourmakeup assemblage , and worryingly , places likeour liversorumbilical cord .
“ The non - stick coating material Teflon is generally a family member of PFAS , ” explain Cheng Fang , a senior research fellow at the University of Newcastle ’s Global Centre for Environmental Remediation , and co - author of a recent newspaper publisher revealing how potentially millions of these tiny credit card corpuscle can be transferred from our non - stick pots and pan into our environs .
“ Given the fact PFAS is a large vexation , these Teflon microparticles in our food might be a wellness fear , ” he enounce in astatementreleased last month . “ [ It ] needs enquire because we do n’t know much about these emerge contamination . ”
So that ’s precisely what the team did . Using a technique called Raman spectroscopic analysis , which allow pill roller to place mote by measure their private vibrational bodily structure , and applying a newly - break algorithmic glide path to detect the presence of microplastics , the researchers found that just one individual crack in the Teflon coating of a spate or pan can eject around 9,100 credit card particles . Broken coatings in general may release up to 2,300,000 microplastics and nanoplastics , the paper notes .
Those are concerning numbers . PFASs have long been eff to havecancer - causing properties , as well as awhole rangeof other health take . They can interfere with hormone spirit level , screw withour ability to prey our babies , and evenreduce our resistant responsesagainst infections and viruses .
In other words , they ’re not the variety of affair we want littering our dinner plate . “ More research is recommend to treat the hazard appraisal of the Teflon microplastics and nanoplastics , give that Teflon is a family phallus of PFAS , ” said Youhong Tang , a prof in the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University , in the argument .
Until then , the study is just the latest in a serial of discovery revealing the extent to which PFASs peril human and environmental health – a problem about which , it isbecoming increasingly clear , we ’re still mostly in the darkness .
“ [ This study ] gives us a strong warning , ” Tang say . “ [ W]e must be careful about selecting and using cooking utensil to avoid food contamination . ”
The study is published in the journalScience of The Total Environment .
