Teflon treated clothing

[RubyWild]

My husband has a few "wrinkle-free" shirts. Are these treated with Teflon? Are other clothes treated in Teflon? Should we avoid this? Ack, I just heard about this and am not sure whether I should be concerned or not.

[frazzledglispa]

I think it is the stain-resistant shirts that are coated in teflon. It is my understanding that "wrinkle-free" cotton shirts are treated with a solution that includes formaldehyde. If that is what his shirt is, I would avoid it. It could just be a synthetic fabric like polyester that is naturally (heh) resistant to wrinkles. I wouldn't buy any 100% cotton that is wrinkle resistant - because truly 100% cotton isn't.

As far as the teflon coated shirts and pants go, I probably wouldn't buy them, because really, what else are they going to start coating with Teflon? Our toothbrushes? Bedsheets? The madness has to end somewhere and clothing is past my personal line. My understanding (which isn't an expert understanding by any means) is that the true danger in teflon comes from ingestion, and from vapors that are released when it is heated. So while I wouldn't necessarily throw out any clothes that might have teflon on them, I probably would avoid putting them in the dryer.