http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062801458.html

"The Environmental Protection Agency's own scientific advisory panel
has identified perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical compound used to make
Teflon [(PTFE)], as a "likely carcinogen" in a report it plans to
submit to the agency next month.

...

"The scientific advisory panel, whose 17 members will discuss the draft
assessment on July 6 before forwarding it to the agency, does not draw
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.'"

I was going to link to a similar article on
http://www.healthcentral.com, but there's a different article there
now. Bad website.

I contacted a manufacturer of a pan made with a non-teflon non-stick
coating--the (expensive) Scanpan--to ask if perfluorooctanoic acid is
used in its manufacture, but I received no reply, so I'll assume you're
not safe with that either.

Even before this, I knew about the flu-like symptoms that teflon causes
when heated beyond a certain point. Never use high heat or a dry pan
when cooking on teflon, and always have adequate ventilation.

The quoted text below is from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstra
ct&list_uids=11541043&query_hl=18
titled "Association of particulate air pollution and acute mortality:
involvement of ultrafine particles?"

"...freshly generated PTFE fumes containing singlet ultrafine particles
(median diameter 26 nm) were highly toxic to rats at inhaled
concentrations of 0.7-1.0 x 10(6) particles/cm3, resulting in acute
hemorrhagic pulmonary inflammation and death after 10-30 min of
exposure. We also found that work performance of the rats in a running
wheel was severely affected by PTFE fume exposure. These results
confirm reports from other laboratories of the highly toxic nature of
PTFE fumes..."

The quoted text below is from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstra
ct&list_uids=9192951&query_hl=23
titled "Fatal acute pulmonary oedema after inhalation of fumes from
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)."

"The cases of three patients with acute pulmonary oedema caused by
inhalation of fumes from heated polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in a
plastic factory are described. One patient died from profound
hypoxaemia and shock shortly after admission, and the other two
patients survived after medical treatment."