DuPont seeks to ease consumer concern over Teflon

DuPont Taiwan Ltd sought to reassure consumers yesterday about the safety of its Teflon products, citing a document from the Department of Health.

DuPont hopes the government's endorsement will boost consumer confidence and help it recover the goodwill it lost following a series of news reports and lawsuits in the US over the past two years.

Citing the health department document, dated Aug. 14, Wendy Wong (汪文), DuPont's marketing communications manager, said Teflon coated cookware does not produce substances that might harm human health under normal cooking circumstances.

"Advanced nations in Europe, the US and Japan have not yet adopted measures to ban or restrict the use of Teflon-coated cookware ? The department believes there is no imperative at present to demand such products be recalled or removed from store shelves," states the document, which bears the chop of Minister of Health Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂).

Wong said the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the US Food and Drug Administration have confirmed there is no evidence to prove that this kind of nonstick cookware will lead to injuries or illness.

In addition, the Danish Technical Institute said that it has not detected perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a synthetic chemical sometimes known as "C8," from Teflon coated cookware, Wong said.

Several cookware manufacturers have reported dwindling sales since the end of last year, when the Consumers' Foundation (消基會) announced that Teflon coating had been found to be toxic.

Major retailers, including Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越), Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) and the hypermarket chain RT-Mart (大潤發), confirmed yesterday they had stopped selling Teflon-coated cookware since the reports came out.

Similar nonstick products from other brands are still available, they said.

However, the foundation said yesterday that it was still concerned about Teflon.

"What DuPont doesn't understand is that people in Chinese societies are subject to greater risks than their Western counterparts, due to different cooking methods," foundation chairman Jason Lee (李鳳翱) said in a telephone interview.

Asians favor cooking at high temperatures when frying, steaming or stir-frying dishes, which might destroy the transparent Teflon coating and increase the health risks to consumers, Lee said.

"The US has demanded that PFOA be banned starting 2015 to safeguard consumers' health. We must say such products really pose a danger," Lee said.