Confirmed cases of the illness are rare, but scientists say some pans can burn off potentially harmful fumes if heated to high temperatures. Over the past two decades, poison centres in the United States have received more than 3600 reports of suspected cases of polymer fume fever, a flu-like illness linked to a chemical coating found on some non-stick pans . The condition has been colloquially referred to as Teflon flu, after the trade name of a popular non-stick coating.
But the health questions are not specific to any particular manufacturer. Last year, there were 267 suspected cases of the little-known illness, which is believed to be one of the highest reported totals since 2000, according to America’s Poison Centres, a non-profit organisation that oversees 55 US poison centres. Teflon and many other non-stick pans are made with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which belongs to the larger class of substances known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) — or “forever chemicals” because of their ability to persist in the environment for years.
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