Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, RN, EdD

Could your cooking pots and pans, pizza boxes, and certain clothes be contributing to your risk for cancer?

The Environmental Protection Agency's own scientific advisory panel has identified perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical compound used to make Teflon in nonstick pots and pans, as a "likely carcinogen."

The draft report, which EPA posted on its Web site a few months ago, is significant because it could prompt agency officials to regulate the processing agent -- known as PFOA or C-8 -- for the first time. Until now, the EPA has classified PFOA as a "suggested" carcinogen, which requires fewer health precautions.

Exactly where is this potentially cancerous substance found?

The EPA is in the midst of a major investigation into how the compound, which is used to make stain- and stick-resistant surfaces and materials for products including Gore-Tex fabrics and pizza boxes, gets into consumers' blood and whether it affects their health. It is also seeking millions of dollars in fines from DuPont Co., which makes PFOA in Parkersburg, W.Va., on the grounds that the chemical giant failed for 20 years to report possible health and environmental problems linked to the compound.

What is the evidence that nonstick pans, some pizza boxes and clothes cause cancer?

The scientific advisory panel has not drawn conclusions on whether using products made with PFOA, such as nonstick pans, poses a cancer risk. Instead, it says that the fact that animal studies have identified four different kinds of tumors in both male and female rats and mice that had been exposed to the compound convinced a majority of its members that it is a likely carcinogen.

Environmental Working Group Senior Vice President Richard Wiles, whose advocacy organization has urged the EPA to regulate the compound, called the panel's findings "huge."

"What this report says is they need to take action," Wiles said, adding that officials are now required to conduct a cancer-risk assessment of PFOA. "At least we have a shot now at protecting the public health."

What should you do?

To protect yourself, avoid ordering takeout pizza and don't use or wear anything made with Gor-Tex. Change to stainless steel or iron pots and pans. As far as we know, both are safe and the iron pots can provide iron if you need it to fight fatigue and other symptoms.