The French National Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a bill aimed at restricting the manufacture and sale of products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals.” The MPs, backed by the government, voted to exclude kitchen utensils from the scope of the text.
Thanks to an intense lobbying push, manufacturers of frying pans and saucepans — including the SEB group, which owns Tefal — are exempt from this ban under the proposed law penned by French Green MPs.
Majority groups initially tried to delay the ban on kitchen utensils until 2030 — a timetable refused by the French Green MPs who instead suggested an exemption until 2026.
The problem is that non-stick has been marketed heavily to the point that the majority of cheap pans are non-stick, even though there’s many purposes they’re not suitable for. For example they shouldn’t be used for high heat cooking, but how many people don’t know that? And they’re extremely toxic if the surface is chipped. Using the wrong utensils on the can chip them. Plus, there’s a number of pans out there that make it look like they’re a different material, but actually it’s just the same thing rebranded. So even if people are using them wrong, it’s very understandable why someone who’s a casual cook wouldn’t realize that they’re endangering themselves by using the pans wrong.
Yeah believe me I know all about that. My dad is a materials scientist and has been rambling about us eating Teflon for a few decades now. Using metal utensils with the non stick pans is one of the few ways to truly get yelled at in my parents’ house