Stainless steel: it's what's for (making) dinner.

Teflon has been the family's cooking medium of choice for nearly half a century now, but more recently information started to leak out that this time saving kitchen must-have is really a big health no-no. One of the chemicals found in teflon, perfluorooctanoic acid, has been listed as a likely carcinogen by the EPA.  Of course the real concern comes in when the teflon coating on pans becomes scratched, old, or over heated.  Two years ago the show 20/20 aired a segment from the EWG on the dangers of "teflon flu," the ocurrence of flu symptoms in a person exposed to the fumes of overheated teflon.  If my teflon pan can give me the flu, and possilby cancer, I don't want it!  So what are the options?  Aluminum isn't good for you either, and many stainless steel products are tempered with nickle, another problematic element.  Plus, who wants to build arm muscles by scrubbing pans all night?  Time to start cooking in Titanium, at one to two hundered dollars per pan.  Or, I found the following information, taken from a Health Sciences Institute posting, to be helpful:  choose stainless steel, evaluate it for nickle content (if a magnet will stick to it you're okay), and to avoid the stuck on food problem heat the pan fully before adding your oil or food (most of us, I think, add the oil while the pan is still heating) and add water to the pan for soaking as soon as possible.  So, what's on my Christmas list this year?  Stainless steel.