Teflon on something other than a frying pan.

[BudgieDeath]

I have been tearful most of the day because I found a sweet bird lying at the bottom of his cage. He was still a bit alive, but died shortly after I picked him up and tried to keep him warm.

I had to know what did this to my pet. I keep everything immaculate with lots of safe toys and plenty of room to roam and flap his wings. I even play music just for him. What I didn't know or at least didn't realize until too late is that many steam irons have non-stick soleplates. That means Teflon. As I thought more about the iron, I realized that it was the first time I had used it in his presence.

This is a sad thing, but I want to pass it on to others with birds. I will contact the place where I got my pet and remind them as well that they need to tell folks about Teflon. And while I am at it, if Teflon is bad for birds, what little injuries are the rest of us enduring? I will miss my little pal.

[Michael]

Terribly sorry to hear that. Yes, many heating devices use teflon and are potentially dangerous. I hope others can learn and prevent this. If that stuff kills birds it can't be good for anyone!

[Wolf]

I am so sorry to learn of this tragedy. Despite the known hazards of this material, it still has not been banned. Even worse, there are no requirements, that I am aware of, for warning labels of any kind. The general population is not aware of it dangers, to birds or themselves, and the greed of the oil companies is such that they will continue to keep this awareness to a minimum for as long as possible.
The bird industry is aware of its harmful effects and portions of it do try to make this information available. Still there is little regulation or oversight of this industry, and the only protection that any of us has is to research everything that we can find on our own if we are to protect our charges from harm.
It is a shame that people would rather wait for there to be legislation requiring them to do what they already know is right before they will do it. This is an example of greed raised to a position above all else. And it is usually only through the efforts of those like yourself, who have suffered such a terrible loss that eventually brings this legislation about.
Unfortunately this is only one of many hazards that our birds are faced with simply because their prospective new families are not aware and are not informed before they get a bird.

[cml]

I am so very sorry for your loss. Thank you for joining up and telling us about your story and informing people of hidden dangers.
It's a well known fact in bird savvy circles that teflon is bad for birds (although some seem to ignore that advice), but often it's easy to miss things that you dont associate with teflon. Who would think they'd put teflon in a steam iron?

I hope you dont mind, but here's some other things that you should very carefully check if they contain teflon or other non-stick:

*Baking stuff, like trays, pans etc. These more often than not contain non-stick and can be lethal if heated. Use only glass or pure metal ones.

*Grillcheese sandwich-machines (the ones that fold over like a waffle maker, sorry dont know the proper term for it)

*Waffle makers

*Bread machines

*Heaters, some have teflon IN them.

There's many more, these I just got from the top of my head, so please keep adding hidden dangers to help others avoid such tragedy as happened to Budgiedeath.

[GreenWing]

I am terribly sorry to learn of this tragedy, and I am very sorry for your loss. I absolutely agree with the other responses that more awareness needs to be known and spread about the dangers of teflon. It's terrible. Many don't know about the dangers of teflon. It is known to damage the health of people and probably other pets. Quite honestly, it needs to be banned.

http://www.naturalhealth365.com/science ... eflon.html

I also had no idea about steam irons, and that they contain teflon. I don't iron my clothes, I usually stick stuff in the dryer, but on this note, and to help others in the future, does anyone know of an iron that is teflon-free?

Again, very sorry to learn of your loss.