A Better Non-Stick Finish?

A reader writes the Green Guide:

HSN.com has advertised a new cooking pan called the GreenPan. Could you tell me what the pan is made of and if it's safe to use around birds?
Thank you,
Nancy R.

Green Guide responds:
Thanks for your question. We're usually pretty leery of non-stick pans, because most are coated with a compound called PTFE (short for "polytetrafluoroethylene"), which itself uses a chemical called PFOA (short for "perfluorooctanoic acid") that's been deemed a likely human carcinogen by an EPA Science Advisory Board. And since you mentioned birds, the fumes emitted by PTFE-treated pans can prove fatal to your feathered friends.

However, this new GreenPan cookware, sold through the Home Shopping Network (HSN), doesn't use any PTFE-based coatings or PFOA to keep food from sticking, according to Mark Hosgood at Thermolon. GreenPan cookware, which uses Thermolon's coatings, are made of an aluminum core with a coating composed of oxygen, silicone, carbon, aluminum and titanium. These pans should be safe for use around birds because they do not contain the chemicals that are released from other PTFE-coated pans when heated (GreenPan Premier 6-piece set, $99.90; www.hsn.com).

Still, as with any non-stick coating, there's the potential for the finish to chip off over time and get ingested, posing health risks once you've swallowed them (the jury is still out as to whether silicone cookware causes health problems; read more here). There are many other types of pans that are certainly safe for both you and your birds, including cast iron, stainless steel and copper, that will also last an eternity. Cast iron pans acquire non-stick properties with age or re-seasoning, so buying used is a good bet. For new cast iron pans, see Lodge Manufacturing (www.lodgemfg.com). Chantal's enamel-coated copper pots provide you with both a non-stick finish and a non-reactive surface on which you can cook more acidic foods, like tomatoes (which you can't cook in conventional cast iron). They're slightly lighter than cast iron and have a steel band around the rim that protects the edges of the enamel from chipping (2-quart saucepan with lid, $199.98; www.kitchenclassics.com).

For other product suggestions, see "Outfitting the Green Kitchen," www.thegreenguide.com/doc/123/greenkitchen.

More than just non-stick pans: When it comes to food, most people associate "non-stick" finishes with cookware, baking sheets and Teflon-lined stoves. But in fact, PTFE-based finishes that contain PFOA are used in other applications as well, from those paper wrappers around your hamburger to the boxes that hold your delivered pizza to microwave popcorn bags. In fact, according to one research chemist at the Food and Drug Administration, microwave popcorn bags release several hundred times more PFOA than non-stick cookware. The next time you crave buttery popcorn, go for the old-fashioned kernels you pop on the stove, not in the microwave.