Non-Stick Pans and Thyroid Disease

Association Between Serum Perfluoroctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Thyroid Disease in the NHANES Study

http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901584

Higher concentrations of serum PFOA and PFOS (perfluoroctane sulphonate) are associated with current thyroid disease in the US general adult population.

Other interesting points from the publication (click "Download: PDF"):

Individuals with more education had higher PFOA levels...Similar differences were
found in PFOS concentrations.

people reporting having Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) may be less likely to be in the highest PFOA concentration quartile

Production of PFOS was halted in 2002 in the USA by its principal producer, due largely to concerns over bioaccumulation and toxicity. Since then, voluntary industry reductions in production and usage of other perfluorinated compounds, such as the US EPA initiated PFOA Stewardship Programme (US EPA 2006) have contributed to a decreasing trend in human exposure for all perfluorinated compounds (with the notable exception of perfluorononanoic acid, PFNA)

Modest associations between PFOA and thyroid hormones (negative for free T4 and positive for T3) were reported in 506 PFOA production workers across three production facilities (Olsen and Zobel 2007). There were no associations between TSH or T4 and PFOA and the free hormone levels were within the normal reference range.