Rachael Ray. Marcus Samuelsson. David Chang.
These celebrity chefs are joining forces, but not for a new restaurant or cooking show. They are teaming up to defend the use of “forever chemicals” in pots and pans.
The chefs, all of whom sell or endorse cookware lines, are opposing a California bill that would phase out the contentious chemicals from a range of products they’re used in, like nonstick cookware, food packaging and dental floss. California lawmakers could vote on the measure this week.
The synthetic chemicals accumulate in the body and have been linked to low birth weight, birth defects and developmental delays in infants as well as increased risk of some prostate, kidney and testicular cancers.
The chefs say that nonstick cookware is safe when used responsibly, and that a ban would be unfortunate for people who love cooking. “The reality is that some foods are extremely difficult to cook well without nonstick pans,” wrote Mr. Chang in a letter to California legislators. He is famed for his Momofuku restaurants, cooking shows such as “Dinner Time With David Chang” and his line of sauces and noodles.
Ms. Ray, a talk-show personality, wrote that “as someone who’s spent her life fighting for better food, better choices, and better health — especially for kids and families — I respectfully ask you to vote against this proposed ban.”
But Mark Ruffalo, the Hollywood actor who played a lawyer facing off with PFAS manufacturers in the 2019 film Dark Waters, has jumped into the issue, criticizing Ms. Ray in front of his almost 8 million followers on X for her “advocacy on behalf of the cookware industry.”
Asked about his criticism, Mr. Ruffalo said, “We don’t need to poison ourselves or our neighbors to have nonstick pans.”
None of the chefs’ representatives responded to requests for comment.
Scientists have warned that PFAS can end up in food when nonstick cookware overheats, is scratched or otherwise starts to degrade.
However they say the bigger danger is from the manufacturing of products containing PFAS, which causes significant pollution, research has shown, by contaminate drinking water sources and getting into the food supply. The chemicals have become so ubiquitous they can be found in the blood of almost every person in the United States.
“There is all this contamination that we need to clean up, and that’s going to take a while,” said Elsie M. Sunderland, professor of environmental chemistry at Harvard University. Her research has quantified sources of PFAS exposure for people and found that food and consumer products make up a significant proportion.
“We can turn off the tap on this problem,” she said. “That’s what we can do right away.”
The California bill would ban the sale and distribution of several categories of products that contain intentionally added PFAS, starting in 2028. But it wouldn’t be the first to phase out PFAS in cookware. Minnesota has a law that prohibits PFAS in cookware as well as 10 other types of products, including dental floss, and five other states, including Colorado, Connecticut and Maine, are set to also phase out cookware that uses the chemicals.
But the issue has come to a head in California, where the cookware industry has recruited chefs like Ms. Ray, Mr. Chang and Mr. Samuelsson to urge legislators to drop cookware from the effort to phase out PFAS.
“They’re a key component of durable, affordable nonstick cookware used by millions of home cooks across the country, including many families who rely on easy-clean cookware to make nutritious meals without extra oils or fats,” said Ms. Ray, who sells her own cookware line. A 12-piece Cucina nonstick set sells for $179.99.
Mr. Samuelsson, a celebrated chef behind restaurants worldwide including the Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem, New York, said that “as chefs, we rely on PTFE-coated cookware for its precision, consistency, and reliability, qualities that are essential when crafting delicate dishes like omelets, crepes, or pan-seared fish, where temperature control and nonstick performance are critical.”
PFTE is one of the thousands of chemicals in the forever-chemical family. Specifically, it is a type of chemical called fluoropolymers used to make a coating that gives nonstick pans their slick, water-repellent surfaces. The cookware industry says fluoropolymers are more stable than other types of forever chemicals, and their use in pots and pans under normal conditions isn’t a concern for human health or the environment.
The industry also points out that cookware is no longer manufactured using PFOA, a type of forever chemical that was at the center of the story line in the Dark Waters film and which has been linked to cancer, birth defects and other health harms.
But fluoropolymers like PTFE do release PFAS throughout their life cycle of manufacturing, use and disposal, said Jamie DeWitt, professor in environmental and molecular toxicology at Oregon State University. And researchers are also just starting to understand how they degrade.
“If you’re trying to minimize your exposure, your only choice is to control what you bring into your home voluntarily,” she said. “It’s the culmination of different items that you might have in your home that could increase your exposure, to the point where your health is at risk.”
The Cookware Sustainability Alliance, founded by two of the world’s largest cookware manufacturers, Groupe SEB and Meyer, had proposed compromises, said Steve Burns, a spokesman for the group. Under one proposal, state regulators would conduct a comprehensive review of the science before moving forward with any ban, he said.
The alliance had reached out to chefs to urge them to speak out on the matter. “We asked, “Do you use nonstick cookware?’ And they said, “Of course, we do. We have to. Every restaurant does, from the top end restaurants to food trucks. It’s ubiquitous.”
“Why are we the first to be sacrificed?” Mr. Burns said.
Ben Allen, a state senator in California and sponsor of the bill, said a number of industries, including cleaning-products makers, have negotiated compromises. His bill would exempt products considered critical and wouldn’t require people to discard their current cookware. Also, people could cross state lines to buy PFAS-containing pans.
Mr. Allen said he recently visited Minnesota, one of the states that already has a ban, “and ate really well there. They’re not starving, and their food scene is thriving,” he said.
Hiroko Tabuchi covers pollution and the environment for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York.
The post California Wants to Ban ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Pans. These Chefs Say Don’t Do It. appeared first on New York Times.
