Do any of you remember the 80s and 90s? That's when the lowfat movement was in vogue and when cooking with butter was not.

Back then we were all told to trade in our regular cookware for non-stick varieties. That way we wouldn't have to use so much butter and oil (or, gasp, shortening) and our cholesterol levels would go down as a result.

Now, you probably also might remember some warnings about Teflon (the brand name of one of the surfaces used to make nonstick pans) flaking off of pans and ending up in our stomachs and eventually our bloodstreams. And you might remember some research on animals that found that the stuff could cause cancer.

But that was all years ago and now the people who make such pans claim that the non-stick technology is oh-so-much-better-than-it-once-was. They are so certain about this that most of these pans come with a lifetime warranty. Find a single scratch on it in the next 80 years and you can get your money back — assuming you can remember where you put your receipt. I never can and I can't tell you how many lifetime warranty pans I would have returned if I were only a little more organized with the receipts.

Anyway, cancer doesn't run in my family. Heart disease does. So I figured the cholesterol-lowering benefits of such pans outweighed their possible cancer-causing effects.

Until today. That's when I came across a study from West Virginia University School of Medicine. The researchers tested more than 12,000 children and teens for levels of perfluoroalkyl acids — including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) — which are used to make non-stick surfaces. They found that children with higher blood levels of PFOAs and PFOSs also tended to have higher total and LDL cholesterol. The researchers suspect that PFOAs and PFOSs raise cholesterol by adversely affecting the liver.

I only have one non-stick pan left. I use it to make fried eggs. I've recently developed an affinity for hard-boiled eggs instead, so I think the time has come for me to part with this pan.

The problem, however, is what to do with it. I hate tossing stuff into a landfill where it will just sit there for millions of years.

Alisa Bowman writes for The Morning Call's health blog. Read more: themorningcall.com/healthblog.