Could Your Nonstick Pan Make You Sick?

There are plenty of kinds of fever that can afflict you. There’s your garden-variety fever; there’s also cat scratch fever and a fever that can only be cured by more cowbell. And then there’s polymer fume fever, which might sound like a bygone dance craze or experimental rock band, but is in fact something that some people have experienced while cooking.

The National Library of Medicine defines it as “an underrecognized flu-like illness associated with inhaling the thermal degradation byproducts of fluorocarbons.” The symptoms are “fever, malaise, dyspnea, chest tightness, and a dry cough a few hours after exposure” — all of which can be the result of being around overheated Teflon (or similarly-produced) cooking implements. In other words, get your nonstick pan too hot and there might be a physical toll on you as a result.

How hot is too hot, you may ask. The Washington Post‘s Teddy Amenabar wrote a detailed look at what can trigger polymer fume fever (aka “Teflon flu”) and what home cooks should be on the lookout for. He also points to the presence of polytetrafluoroethylene in nonstick cookware — a substance that’s considered a “forever chemical.”

If there’s one big takeaway from the Post‘s analysis, it’s this: pans made with polytetrafluoroethylene are safe to cook with at temperatures below 500 degrees. Get it warmer, though, and there’s the risk of side effects to people exposed to the pan.

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The experts cited in the article recommend not pre-heating pans and using kitchen ventilation whenever possible. They also noted that there is a market for nonstick pans and other kitchenware that are forever chemical-free — something that might be worth keeping an eye on the next time you’re replacing kitchenware.