The Cookware Sustainability Alliance (CSA) shared a decision reached by the National Advertising Division this week that determined that it was unsubstantiated to state that non-stick cookware was “toxic.” In a decision concerning advertising by Caraway Home, Inc., (the “Advertiser”) the NAD concluded that current advertising “did not meet its burden of providing a reasonable basis for claims that competing nonstick cookware is toxic” and recommended this be discontinued or modified.
“This is yet another validation of what the CSA has been saying to lawmakers around the country over the past 15 months, in addition to the media and consumers,” said Steve Burns, the President of the CSA. “For too long some advertising has implied or outright stated that non-stick cookware is unsafe. This is often spread on social media. The science refutes this clearly, and now another unbiased, non-political review of the facts re-confirms it. PTFE coated cookware is safe and has been deemed safe for use in cookware by United States Food & Drug Administration for decades. We embrace this strong decision by the NAD Board.”
The U.S. advertising industry founded the National Advertising Division (NAD) and theNational Advertising Review Boardin 1971 is an independent system to build consumer trust in advertising and support fair competition in the marketplace. NAD holds national advertising across all media types to high standards of truth and accuracy by reviewing truth-in-advertising challenges from businesses, trade associations, consumers, or on its own initiative.
The NAD decision noted that although the Advertiser submitted multiple studies and articles in support of its argument that PTFE is toxic and causes harm to the human body, most of the studies offered are a poor fit for the challenged claims related to cookware. NAD wrote that, “Specifically, these studies either fail to distinguish PTFE from PFAS generally, relate to a different type of PFAS, involve testing on birds rather than on humans, or involve exposure in conditions wholly unrelated to cookware.”
Other findings in the decision addressed the so-called “Teflon Flu”, and the NAD decision states that “The Advertiser did not show that consumers would be exposed to PTFE fumes during ordinary use of traditional nonstick cookware. There is no evidence in the record that consumers would be exposed to such high temperatures for sufficiently long enough to create a health hazard or how frequently such exposure occurs.”
Finally, the NAD found that “With respect to the PFOA claim, the Challenger has explained that PFOA is no longer used in the manufacture of PTFE and thus, is no longer of concern. The Advertiser does not dispute this fact.”
“The CSA has made this point repeatedly, in response to what almost appears to be deliberate obfuscation by critics around the country,” Burns added. “PFOA hasn't been used in the U.S. for over a dozen years to produce non-stick cookware coatings like PTFE, yet some still seek to ban our product, almost as if to punish us for the past practices of chemical producers, rather than acknowledging today's safe manufacturing practices of the cookware industry.”
The NAD statement can be found here.
About the Cookware Sustainability Alliance
The Cookware Sustainability Alliance is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization dedicated to providing science-based information about the safety of cookware products for consumers and policymakers to make informed decisions. The CSA is a group of cookware manufacturers, retailers and engineers committed to responsible manufacturing and educating consumers and policymakers about the materials used and chemistries in cookware. The CSA strives to provides retailers and consumers with the best information to make informed decisions about the cookware products they buy for their families. Contact Steve Burns: steve@cookwaresustainabilityalliance.org
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SOURCE Cookware Sustainability Alliance
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