Silicone bakeware is used everywhere from professional bakeries to home kitchens, making the potential for exposure high. If you use silicone bakeware—and many people do—it’s understandable to be concerned.
Siloxanes are silicone-containing chemicals that are present in many common consumer products that we use on a daily basis, including moisturizers, hair shampoos and conditioners, deodorants, and sunscreen, explained Kelly Johnson-Arbor, M.D., a toxicologist at MedStar Health. “Siloxanes are also present in silicone-based baking tools, including loaf pans and cookie sheets,” she added.
While the impact of siloxanes on human health is not as clear as the link between common household plastics and heart disease, for example, there is some evidence to suggest that these compounds aren’t good for people. A 2025 study published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology noted that certain types of siloxanes are linked to endocrine disruption, liver toxicity, and reproductive toxicity. But the study also noted that some types of siloxanes are understudied, making it hard to know for sure how these compounds impact people. Other research published in 2023 notes that two types of siloxanes—D4 and D5—“have produced toxicological effects in the endocrine, immune, nervous, and reproductive systems.”
Dr. Johnson-Arbor added that older research involving rats also found that exposure to siloxanes was linked to reproductive changes and endometrial cancer. “However, these associations occurred only after exposures to very high concentrations of siloxanes for prolonged periods of time, and were also believed to be species-specific—i.e., affecting rats but not humans due to differences in metabolic pathways between the two species,” she said.
Health Canada, a government agency that has extensively reviewed siloxanes, also has a measured take: “Substances in the siloxanes group are associated with health effects; however, at levels of exposure considered in the assessment, the Government concluded that these substances are not harmful to human health or to the environment,” the agency wrote online.
For all these reasons, doctors say there’s no need to freak out right now. “While [the results] may sound alarming, the methods used to conduct experiments in this study, along with the lack of conclusive data concerning the human toxicity of siloxanes, suggest that the results of this study are not necessarily worrisome and should be interpreted with caution,” said Dr. Johnson-Arbor.
There’s also the design of the study to consider, said Jamie Alan, Ph.D., an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University. “The way the study was done does not completely mimic how we use silicone bakeware in the home,” she explained. “They used powdered silicone product for some of the experiments, and we certainly do not grind up our products when we are baking.”
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