Maybe this is it:

Diaminodiphenylmethane, also known as DDM or methylenedianiline, is a
chemical sometimes used as an epoxy hardener. Traces of this chemical
are used in some nylon kitchen utensils, particularly black nylon
kitchen utensils. While casual exposure to this chemical bears little,
if any risk, the presence of the chemical in plastics used for food
preparation raises some concerns. Most nylon utensils found to contain
DDM have been manufactured in China.

http://www.ehow.com/info_12180129_dangers-nylon-kitchen-utensils.html

If I read the article correctly, the main danger comes if the plastic melts in your food. I rarely keep my utensils in the food while cooking and have never had one melt in the food, so I am not too concerned about exposure to DDM. I also keep in mind that the rats used for testing were fed high amounts of the chemicals while your utensils have a much lower amount. Heck, high amounts of water can kill you too.

Cathy, how is the HG doing?

In the church kitchen there is one huge drawer of cheap black plastic spoons, tongs, ladles, spatulas etc. I suspect they are left over from a caterer's gig and either people leave them at the church, or bring them from home when they get an excess. Theya re very flimsy....I never use them and try to keep them out of the main stream....but I suspect that those are the sort of black utensils they are talking about as being dangerous.

Cilantro, Thanks for the article.

Like Peppi, I don't leave utensils in the food, that's why a good spoon rest is important to me.

Linda, some of mine are cheapos. I will replace them as a precaution especially after reading the very long list of dangerous plastic items that are purchased at Dollar Stores. I love dollar type stores but that article was scary.

*Peppi, Progress, he was reading the paper when I got up, I thought it was an old paper...he had walked out to the driveway and picked it up!!

I have a couple of black spatulas - one is straight and one is offset - and I use them frequently, but not with heat. I do have a black pancake turner, and so maybe I will get rid of that - the handle is too thick to hang easily anyway. I have a strainer that is dark gray - does that count? I'll have to photograph my own utensils to get an idea of what I have. I think I have more red utensils than black, but maybe that's because I don't see the black utensils, as you said.

Cathy, I'm glad to hear that HG went to get his own paper, that's wonderful progress. Hugs to you both.

Happily, I have no black utensils, most of mine are metal or wood. I do have two silicone "spoonula" type utensils, but one is blue and one is white.

Annie

This is news to me, I've never heard this before. Most of my utensils are black just because that's what color that most plastic utensils are when you go to the store, it's not because I like the color of black.

Hi Cathy, I'm pleased to hear that the HG is improving! A man needs his newspaper with breakfast! LOL

Never heard about this before -- and like others most of my utensils are black, simply because that's what's out there.

My plastic utensils are all black, as well. This is news to me, so it looks like some reading is in order.

Like Annie I use mostly wood and stainless. All of my spatulas are various colors. Don't own a single black one. Had no idea that was a popular color. I take that back, one of dh's silicone grill basting brushes has a black head, but more often than not I give him the blue one to use. I like color!

The $$ stores and Wally World are full of black utensils...and caterers all use "disposable" black plastic.
I don't have any....but sure see them for sale....and a drawer full at church.
I like stainless...There are a lot of very simple nice quality stainless, made in Korea stuff out there. When I first discovered some at a flea market a few years back, I bought ladle, stirring spoon, strainer spoon, spatula, meat fork....and have loved them. The rest of my utensil crock contains whisks, wooden spoons and wooden handled silicone spatulas.
I need to purge that drawer at church.

Uh oh . . .

Thanks for the info. I have a few old black plastic turners. I mostly use silicone, olive wood or stainless.

I haven't seen any info yet that will make me worry. Most of my black utensils are probably close to 20 or 30 years old. I haven't been poisoned nor have any of my guests. There's always some story being spread around that something is going to kill us all and usually there's other motivation. Or there's incompetent reading of the data. I generally ask why and for more info before I go off on something like this. There's so many Chicken Littles out there, I don't need to turn into one too.

Years ago, my parents sprayed the back door with DDT because when the flies landed on it, they dropped dead. It was said we needed to wash our hands after spraying, but we didn't consider DDT to be dangerous.
A few years later my mother sprinkled her window sills with chlorodane powder to keep the ants out. It was, a safe alternative to DDT...we thought. My father died of liver cancer.
We smoked in the car....with the kids. No harm, they weren't smoking.
I remember being nauseous in the back seat of my father's 1940 Chevvy and the smell of exhaust being very strong>
When microwaves first became in most homes, people put their plastic baby bottles in them to warm....no sense in being alarmed over rumors of anything harmful in the combo of plastic and a microwave oven.
I consider ridding my kitchen of black plastic utensils as just one step to eliminate, easily, another form of carcinogen. If you choose not to heed warnings like that....well, I guess that's your business....but I consider new informations about dangers we don't imagine to be worth noting.

From the link:

>>Your utensils should have the ability to withstand at least 450 degrees Fahrenheit.<<

How hot (ie what max temperature) is the food you cook? It most certainly isn’t 450ºF. I didn’t see one word about at what temp the offending black plastic decomposed into the food nor one word about what is a safe or max temp to use it.

Am I living on the edge serving soup and spaghetti out of my cast aluminum pan with my black one dollar Betty Crocker serving spoon? Incidentally the Betty Crocker logo washed off. I'm worried sick. :-)

I'm with Cynic. Every time something is hyped as "good" or "bad" for you I tell my HG...give it a week and the research will be revised and we will be allowed or not allowed.

Make your own decisions, but educate yourself about acute poisoning vs long term exposure and also on the math of risk, which is related to statistics. And the difference between an incident/anecdote and a data set.

I agree Lpink...
Rather like the smoker of 5 years who says, I'm fine all that BS is just someone's opinion, or the diabetic who ignores warnings about a proper diet.
And I believe the coconut oil that was banned from popcorn was partially hydroginated....which is still bad.
Eggs were only bad for people who had high cholesterol....and they still are...unless you are thinking of eggs contaminated with salmonella and they still are bad.
You won't see any evidence that people die from using plastic utensils, because it's slow acting and there are many contributors to the sort of poison emitted by certain hot plastics, and I think it's good to eliminate those that you can.
besides, I think they are cheap looking and I can't stand that they are "bendy" when you are stirring something heavy!

No plastic utensils in my house. I had one plastic spoon that made it's way from some pot-luck that I saved to see if it would be claimed, but it's gone now.

We all do things we know are dangerous...I smoked for more years than I care to think, but it's good to know that there is some danger associated with certain practices, so we can make an informed choice.

" I think they are cheap looking and I can't stand that they are "bendy" when you are stirring something heavy! ... my sentiments excatly:)

Seriously, carcinogenic or not, I don't know how anyone can actually cook with those flimsy things, they remind me of the toy utensils for kids play kitchens.

...and I had to chuckle at this one;

"No plastic utensils in my house. I had one plastic spoon that made it's way from some pot-luck that I saved to see if it would be claimed, but it's gone now."

We also somehow ended up with a plastic spoon at our house, it was a white one, and no clue where it came from. We ended up using it to scoop out our dog's canned food, and it became known as "the dog spoon" for years.

BTW, dog lived to a ripe old age

You're not necessarily going to get sick or poisoned even from one bad thing you do, it is accumulated risk, which is the combined liklihood of all the minor risks you take. And even then, it is only a risk. Yes, a truck could hit you tomorrow and then it is all moot. So inform yourself of the risks and decide if you care. A lot has to do with the cost of change vs the likely hood of it negatively affecting you. I got a whole set of those cheapo black plastic utensils for what I thought would be my temp. apt. Almost two years later, I hate the things because they aren't worth a darn. I don't use them enough and with hot enough applications for them to be of great concern, and hopefully I can soon get into my own stash of things. I'm eventually going to donate them to the work kitchen, where they will get used even less frequently.

I tend to just not like the feel and performance of plastic in general, and only use it to avoid scratching certain few things. And these new dangers aren't brain surgery information if you know anything about the chemistry of plastic. I have researched a lot about plastic, the stuff isn't good. I think it should be relegated to the dustbin of history except for those few cases where there is no alternative. In fact, I ascribe to quite a few resource sites that specialize in finding non-plastic alternatives for modern life.

Knowing that all these utensils are made in China I don't trust the quality of their plastic. So, to be on the safe side I use metal/inox utensils. Dollar stores have them for 1$/piece or wood.They can be exposed at high temperatures without posing a health problem. A real problem though is plastic packaging in the store and in the freezer. http://wellnessmama.com/23757/dangers-of-plastic/