It's sometimes a bit disconcerting when researchers seems to be at war. First you will come across information that suggests one thing, only to then come across information somewhere else saying the exact opposite. Which of the two (or two hundred, depending upon on the amount of research and number of different conclusions) do you believe? I wish I knew, but I don't. What I do know, however, is that I just came across yet another example of this very problem.

Cooking with nonstick pans -- cancer causing? Well, according to research that I came across a while back, it seemed clear as though it was. That study pointed to perfluorooctanoic acids (PFOAs) as being the component found in Teflon pans that has been linked to certain forms of cancer. But just yesterday I happened to read a statement from the Center for Science in the Public Interest: Studies do not show any evidence of Teflon-based PFOAs seeping into the foods we eat or the air we breath.

Okay -- I'm already unsure who to believe. And just then, I found another research contradiction --

Microwaving food in plastic wrap releases carcinogenic dioxins. I mean, that's what I read before. Is that the truth? I mean, I remember even getting an email from a friend, warning about the dangers of cooking plastic wrapped food in the microwave. But, a few days ago I found a statement made by a professor from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: "Dioxins are not present in plastics used for microwavable food containers or plastic wrap." And, I found information to support these findings through a number of other sources. Um, okay. So now what do I do?

The best solution -- as best I can tell, anyway -- would be to err on the side of caution and not use Teflon pans or plastic wrap when nuking food. The solution to the bigger problem, and that being the welter of conflicting academic research, will clearly be a much more difficult problem to solve.