If you wanted, you could levy fines like 5-10% of gross annual revenue for any company or marketplace or retailer found distributing product containing PFAS.
You don't have to agree it's feasible or worth it, but it's possible.
"Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large, complex group of synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products around the world since about the 1950s. They are ingredients in various everyday products. For example, PFAS are used to keep food from sticking to packaging or cookware, make clothes and carpets resistant to stains, and create firefighting foam that is more effective."[0]
Should we ban those uses, outright? Q: What do you suggest we use instead?
[0] https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/pfc/index.cfm
Use of PFAS in (airport) firefighting foam is a more complicated question, but that mostly illustrates that the question isn't well-formed.
Q: If the first part of that statement is true then why is the second part of that statement true?
I would suggest that nonstick cookware is popular because consumers like it ... because "it works".
If there were an alternative that was as good then it would be readily available and frequently sold.
It was so good, for its purpose it was pretty much the only material you could buy to do its job for a long time.
That material is called asbestos. It turned out to be so hard to work with that it gave millions of people cancer, even though it's pretty much the perfect insulator when left alone.
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Non-stick cookware is not nearly as bad as asbestos, but it's cheap and easy to use because it doesn't require maintenance like stainless steel, copper, or cast iron. It's not surprising that it's popular and the cheapest to make at scale since you don't need the surface of the material to be very good at all, if it's getting coated with teflon. There's the small problem that you've made a disposable product that probably won't get recycled and everyone who uses it will be eating small amounts of plastic everyday, but they'll thank you for the privilege.
stainless steel cookware requires the least maintenance of all types imho and is near impossible to ruin/damage. The issue is its not non-stick and requires a bit more skill to cook with. Most people are too used to coated non-stick and how easy it makes cooking.
I will say though that cast iron and stainless are the only things I want in my kitchen because I like metal whisks, forks, and spoons in my cookware.
"Was"? Here on HN we do sometimes forget about "the rest of the world" don't we?
Asbestos is still mined in Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil and China[0] and is still widely used in India[1], which imports more than any other country.
[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/264923/world-mine-produc... [1] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/dec/19/w...
there is cast iron & carbon steel, its just harder to use needing more actual skill and requires more care where coated non stick panes just work.
however that coating will wear off and then you need a new pan, kill birds if overheated, where the stainless/carbon steel will last the rest of your life.