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When a person dies, their cause of death is assigned a code. “W67,” for example, refers specifically to a death from accidentally drowning in a swimming pool. “J14” is death from pneumonia, but just from the Hemophilus influenzae bacteria. And “O72.2” is when a mother dies from excessive blood loss more than 24 hours after giving birth. Physicians, medical examiners, and coroners document this information on death certificates, as well as any other contributing causes. It’s a clinical process at the end of an emotional experience; experts collect and analyze the codes of deaths across the country to learn what people are dying from. Then, we can create policies to respond to those causes.

“Births and deaths—this information is the foundation of our public health system,” says Marie Thoma, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist and professor at the University of Maryland.

In their research on maternal mortality, Thoma and her colleague Eugene Declercq, an Obstetrics and Gynecology professor at Boston University’s School of Medicine, have studied how the structure of these death certificates and informational processing systems has led to inconsistent and inaccurate data. “People think maternal mortality is kind of straightforward because they assume it’s what they’ve seen on TV, which is a tragedy at the time of birth,” Declercq says. But in reality, it’s more nuanced. Experts must get this data right, he says, because “with maternal mortality, we’re talking 700 or so deaths per year and the mistakes [in analysis] are magnified, as opposed to analyzing overall death rates.”

The US is no stranger to maternal mortality. The country has gained notoriety for having the highest maternal death rate of similarly wealthy nations; on a global ranking, the US falls 55th, just behind Russia and just ahead of Ukraine. Around 800 pregnant Americans die each year—though those numbers have spiked since the COVID pandemic—and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that two-thirds of these pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. In other words, more than 500 mothers die each year unnecessarily.

[Related: COVID deaths in pregnant people in the US are flying under the radar]

These vital statistics are paramount to informing maternal healthcare policy, but the data on death rates is far more complicated than one might expect. Three different systems track maternal mortality, all with varying constraints on how information is analyzed. And as the country enters an era with increasingly strict restrictions on abortion and maternal care, properly measuring and understanding these numbers is crucial for creating support systems and saving lives.

To avoid contaminating food or the environment with plastic particles from PTFE cookware, at-home chefs must use soft turners or non-sharp utensils that don’t scratch the surface during the cooking and cleaning process. Should there be any scratches on the cookware, replacement is recommended, says Fang.

Still, cracked surfaces aren’t the only thing to consider when cooking with Teflon. The coating can also release toxic chemicals into the air when it reaches extreme temperatures. There are several cases of individuals experiencing temporary, flu-like symptoms from polymer fume fever—as a result.

[Related: Use the Leidenfrost effect to make your stainless steel pan non-stick.]

Peaslee says re-evaluating the necessity of Teflon-coated cookware may reduce our exposure to PFAS. He adds that it may have been marketed as a great new technology in the 1950s, but cast iron always worked just as well. Fluoropolymers are concerning for environmental and human health because they emit PFAS during production, processing, use, and end-of-life treatment. There are reasonable alternatives that will do less harm to the environment and not support the fluoropolymer industry, like ceramics or stainless steel, says Peaslee.