Nonstick Cookware On The Chopping Block In California

California lawmakers have advanced a bill to ban the sale of nonstick cookware and corded kitchen appliances that contain PFAS (forever chemicals) despite strong opposition from an industry group that insists the products are save.

Bill 682 would phase out a range of consumer products in the state – along with many commercial products, that contain any amount of “intentionally added PFAS” starting in 2028. 

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are man-made chemicals, known as forever chemicals because they don’t break down easily and can build up in the human body and the environment. 

The bill would make it illegal for anyone to distribute, sell or offer for sale any cookware that contained the chemicals – so all you garage sale sellers better watch out. 

“PFAS are leading to an avoidable public health crisis,” said state Sen. Ben Allen (D) who introduced the bill. “It’s clear we need to be taking stronger steps to regulate and minimize the use of these forever chemicals.”

PFAS are leading to an avoidable public health crisis. It’s clear we need to be taking stronger steps to regulate and minimize the use of these forever chemicals.https://t.co/GpJPxTcxF8

— Ben Allen (@BenAllenCA) September 11, 2025

According to Allen, forever chemicals are affecting California communities and the environment. As the Epoch Times notes further, the Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, the California Association of Sanitation Agencies, Clean Water Action, the Environmental Working Group, and the Natural Resources Defense Council are in support of the measure.

“PFAS are a class of approximately 14,000 man-made chemicals,” the groups said in a statement to the Legislature.

“Health concerns linked with these chemicals include cancers, decreased fertility, hormone disruption, liver disease, developmental harm, and immune system suppression, including interference with the efficacy of vaccines.”

California has already banned unnecessary PFAS use in many products, including certain cosmetics and personal care products, some textiles and clothing, fire-fighting foam, certain children’s products, paper-based food-packaging, cosmetics, and more.

The bill would prohibit the distribution or sale of any cleaning products, cookware, dental floss, juvenile products, food packaging, and ski wax starting Jan. 1, 2028.

On Jan. 1, 2040, the bill would ban the sale of certain commercial or industrial products that contain intentionally added PFAS.

The banned items would include certain textile products, refrigerants, solvents, propellants, automotive products, lubricants, and other industry-specific products, including those for semiconductor manufacturing and petroleum production, unless the state finds the use of the chemicals in the product is unavoidable.

The Cookware Sustainability Alliance, an industry group formed by major cookware companies, urged lawmakers to oppose the bill.

“The proposal risks taking safe, affordable, and reliable kitchen essentials off the shelves, leaving customers with fewer options for the products they use every day,” the group said in a statement.

The alliance says PFAS is a category that includes some chemicals—such as fluoropolymers used to coat nonstick cookware—that have been deemed safe for uses in food preparation by the Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority.

“They are non-toxic and inert, they do not bioaccumulate, and importantly, they are not water soluble,” the alliance stated.

“In fact, fluoropolymer coatings are used on medical implantation devices such as pacemakers and catheters.”

The organization says the ban on PFAS would strip Californians of choice, raise costs for households and businesses, create landfill waste, and threaten jobs and the economy.

“SB 682 would upend California kitchens overnight,” Steve Burns, the alliance president, said.

“Lawmakers could ban safe, heavily regulated products that millions of families and restaurants use every day—driving up prices, killing jobs, and sending tons of cookware to landfills.”