These celebrity chefs are joining forces,
but not for a new restaurant or cooking show. They are teaming up to defend the use of “forever
chemicals” in pots and pans.
The chefs, all of whom sell or endorse
cookware lines, are opposing a California bill that would phase out the contentious
chemicals from a range of products they’re used in, like nonstick cookware, food packaging and dental
floss. California lawmakers have passed the bill in mid-September.
The synthetic
chemicals accumulate in the body and have been linked to low birth weight, birth defects
and developmental delays in infants as well as increased risk of
some prostate, kidney and testicular cancers.
The chefs say that nonstick cookware is
safe when used responsibly and that a ban would be unfortunate for people who
love cooking.
Ray, a talk-show
personality, wrote that “as someone who’s spent her life fighting
for better food, better choices, and better health—especially for kids and
families—I respectfully ask you to vote against this proposed ban.”
But Mark Ruffalo, the Hollywood actor who
played a lawyer facing off with PFAS manufacturers
in the 2019 film “Dark Waters,” has jumped into the issue, criticizing Ray in
front of his almost 8 million followers on social platform X for her “advocacy
on behalf of the cookware industry.”
Asked about his criticism, Ruffalo said, “We
don’t need to poison ourselves or our neighbors to have nonstick pans.”
None of the chefs’ representatives
responded to requests for comment.
Scientists have warned that PFAS can end up in food when nonstick cookware overheats,
is scratched or otherwise starts to
degrade.
However they say the bigger danger is from the
manufacturing of products containing PFAS, which causes significant pollution,
research has shown, by contaminating drinking water sources and getting into the
food supply.
The California bill would ban the sale and
distribution of several categories of products that contain intentionally added
PFAS, starting in 2028. But it wouldn’t be the first to phase out PFAS in
cookware. Minnesota has a law that prohibits PFAS in cookware as well as 10 other
types of products, including dental floss, and five other states are set to
also phase out cookware that uses the chemicals.
(Hiroko Tabuchi)
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