Kitchen utensil manufacturers get win after lobbying blitz.

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.

  • Lemzlez@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    3 months ago

    Yes, the final product comes back out. The final product is PTFE, not PFAS. PTFE is harmless unless degraded or overheated (which is why you shouldn’t do that with non-stick cookware).

    To produce PTFE, PFAS are used (or are intermediaries in the process), which is why the production is dangerous, but the product isn’t.

    • Dasus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      3 months ago

      #Some of the PFAS that have been studied — PFOA, PFOS, and PFHS — can take over seven years to reduce by half in your bloodstream. It’s no wonder they’re called “forever chemicals.”

        • Dasus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          12·
          3 months ago

          So?

          We’re not talking excretion, we’re talking blood half-life.

          Too complex a distinction for a corporate shill?

          • Lemzlez@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            3 months ago

            Hey, it’s me, your friendly neighbourhood corporate shill, telling you to not buy any more nonstick cookware because I love Tefal so much. More for me!

            But seriously, I’m not disputing that the chemicals you listed are bad, just that the coating itself doesn’t affect you.

            PFAS bad, but only there during production. PTFE fine, and that’s what’s on your pan. PTFE does not get into your blood. Any PTFE you consume comes back out, because it is not PFAS.

            TL;DR: use pan until pan bad, then buy pan with no PTFE.

            • Dasus@lemmy.worldEnglish
              12·
              3 months ago

              Do you understand the difference between excretion and half-life?

              Do you understand that anything that has a half-life of SEVERAL YEARS in the blood and is fairly novel and hasn’t been studied for long term effects of exposure on humans, should be something which you avoid having in your blood?

              It’s like when tobacco companies put asbestos in cigarettes to “filter” them.

              https://www.asbestos.com/products/cigarette-filters/

              But yeah, tldr I can agree with