Tough luck, Teflon.
New York lawmakers are pushing to ban the sale of nonstick cookware over a chemical coating they say is dangerous — but that the federal government has deemed safe for decades.
The popular – and typically cheaper – style of pots and pans could be wiped off store shelves by the start of 2027 because the kitchen items contain a type of plastic made from “forever chemicals.”
The proposed bill that would ban the chemicals used in the cookware and a slew of other products, the latest in a series of nanny-state legislation Empire State officials have passed with or considered in recent years.
New York would follow a handful of other states like Rhode Island, Minnesota and Connecticut with a ban, but a trade group lobbying against said lawmakers are misunderstanding the science.
Steve Burns, of Cookware Sustainability Alliance, said the same type of chemicals are coated with pacemakers and other electronics that are not being attacked by state lawmakers.
“What we try to say is that exact chemical that a cardiac surgeon has been putting into bodies for 60 years, how can that possibly be dangerous?” he told The Post. “But somehow the same chemical when used to coat a frying pan is deemed to be dangerous.
“If we’re gonna go around the state of New York and point at things in everybody’s home and say that good, that’s good, that’s bad,” he added. “What’s it based on?”
Nonstick cookware is made from polytetrafluoroethylene, PTFE, a subset of the synthetic chemicals group called per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The ban wouldn’t just affect pots and pans.
The sale of some architectural paints, car parts, cleaning products, rugs, ski wax textiles and polish containing PFAS would also be prohibited, according to the proposed law.
The legislation passed the state Senate in May and has already cleared two crucial state Assembly committees in the legislature’s lower chamber. A spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said the legislation is “being discussed.”
The final bill would also need to be signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), one of the bill’s architects, called the PFAS-laced products “cancer causing pollutants” harmful to a person’s health and environment.
“By phasing out this whole class of dangerous ‘forever chemicals’ we can decrease the likelihood that New Yorkers are exposed to these toxins through the life-cycle of the product, including the manufacturing, use, and disposal,” Hoylman-Sigal, who is running for Manhattan borough president, said in a statement.
The bill also has some broad support, with moderate Democrats and even a pair of Republican Senators co-sponsoring the proposal.
Brooklyn Democratic Assembly Member Phara Souffrant Forres even wrote an op-ed for USA Today last month arguing the chemicals used to coat non-stick cookware pose health risks.
“As a nurse, this concerns me, and it’s why I’m in support of getting these chemicals out of our cookware and other products, and ensuring safer alternatives are used,” said Souffrant Forres, a member of the Democratic Socialists of American.
The FDA website notes that nonstick applications on pots and pans are an authorized use under federal guidelines. One Westchester Assemblyman against the measure noted the FDA’s longstanding stance.
“I think consumer choice is crucial, there’s no question,” Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Yorktown) said. “But you’re running in conflict with what the [Food and Drug Administration] has out there.”
The potential ban is one of several heavy-handed rules Empire State lawmakers have considered or put in place, including targeting wood and coal-fired stoves, single-use plastic bottles of soap in hotels and flavored nicotine pouches.
While nonstick pans with PTFE are considered safe when used correctly, if the cookware is set to a temperature above 500 degrees, the coating can burn off and cause potentially harmful fumes, according to a 2024 Washington Post article.
The fumes can lead to a polymer fume fever, also known as Teflon flu.
An FDA spokesperson told the publication that the agency is not aware of any research that shows PFAS in nonstick cookware could lead to a safety concern for customers – a point Burns from the cookware alliance points to.
“This dates all the way back to the JFK administration and has been true under both Democratic and Republican presidents alike,” he said.
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