I find it interesting that even during the administration of the most business friendly EPA and FDA ever, a number of commonly used drugs and chemicals are suddenly be found to be dangerous. This time the EPA is charging Dupont with hiding internal evidence first collected in the 1961 that Teflon might be extremely dangerous. Not only have they found evidence that even low levels of exposure seems to cause cancer and other health problems but that it appears to degrade very slowly in the body. Imagine how broadly Teflon is now found in the environment after 50 years of use.

There are lots of chemicals that we have no public data on. The EPA reported in 1998 that it had no toxicity data or "safe level" for 43 percent of the 2,800 chemicals produced in volumes of 1 million pounds a year or more. The industry is expected to police itself.

My mom is one of those people who tends to believe it is better to stick with things we do know the safety of even if new things might make our lives easier. Looks like she was right in this case.