Turns out, some nonstick pots and pans are better than others — but you might want to stay away from one type entirely.

Is Teflon safe for cooking? A chemical coating called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is used to make certain pans nonstick. And a brand called Teflon is perhaps the best known nonstick coating.

Today’s nonstick and Teflon cookware is considered safe for everyday home cooking, as long as temperatures do not exceed 500°F (260°C). At high temperatures, Teflon coatings may begin to break ...

Teflon is generally safe, but heating it to above 300 degrees Celsius or 570 degrees Fahrenheit poses a danger to your health.‌ At these temperatures, the stable Teflon begins to break down and ...

DuPont assures the public that Teflon is safe for use with food. "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found Teflon® non-stick coatings acceptable for conventional kitchen use." ...

An overheated empty Teflon-coated pan poses some risk because it can release toxic gases, which are especially dangerous for birds. DuPont says this is only likely to happen at 660 degrees while ...

The PFOA in Teflon was replaced with a different chemical, short-chain PFAS, explained A. Daniel Jones, a professor emeritus in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Michigan ...

That means that it should be safe to use new Teflon cookware any way you see fit -- although it couldn't hurt to continue being cautious when using new nonstick cookware.

Dear Dr. Gott: My wife is systematically discarding all of our Teflon-coated pots, pans and utensils in response to a perceived concern that Teflon is a health risk. Furthermore, we are significant… ...