Are Tefal stoves “sure” as the company claims? Several NGOs refute this theory and have filed a complaint against the SEB group and its tefal subsidiary for “deceptive commercial practices”, they announced this Thursday.
The complaint, which emanates from France Nature Environnement (FNE), future generations and the Citizen and Secular Consumer Association (ACLC), relates to an advertising campaign dating from 2024 as well as a communication on the Tefal brand’s website. She was sent to the Paris prosecutor’s office on Wednesday morning.
Environmental effects
By “ensuring that the non -stick coatings of his stoves are recognized as safe because he containing PTFE [polytétrafluoroéthylène, autre nom du Téflon] And not PFOA “, other PFAS (” eternal pollutants “) prohibited, the group” omits to mention the risk of rejections to the environment of substances due to the use of PTFE, throughout the life cycle of products as well as the risks on health when using the brand’s stoves “, argue associations in a press release.
“It is unacceptable to communicate in this way when the health of populations, particularly workers, and the environment is at stake. Tefal must report and be sanctioned,” protests Anne Roques, lawyer of FNE. To support their complaints, associations rely on the International Center for Research against Cancer (CIR), a UN agency, which concluded that it has been to classify the PTFE as a carcinogen, but is not pronounced on the lack of carcinogenicity or the fact that the PTFE is “sure”.
“Eternal pollutants” in debate
Questioned by AFP in April 2024, the CIRC did not wish to comment on Seb’s claims on the influenza of the TEFLON, “due to the seniority” of its evaluations. NGOs also invoke a study of November 2023 in South Korea which “highlights that PTFE microparticles generate harmful effects on health such as inflammation”.
In April 2024, the deputies adopted an ecological bill aimed at restricting the manufacture and the sale of products containing PFAS or “eternal pollutants”, excluding the kitchen utensils, after a strong mobilization of manufacturers, in particular tefal. The final text, promulgated in February 2025, retains this exclusion.
Our file on PFAS
Present in a multitude of objects of everyday life, the per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances, or PFAS, which are counted by the thousands, owe their nickname “eternal pollutants” to their capacity for accumulation and persistence in natural environments and the organisms of living beings, and their toxic effects scientifically proven on the environment and health.