Environmental Protection Agency
According to a petition filed by Earthjustice on October 13, 2022, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has allowed over 600 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on the US market “through low-volume or low-release and low-exposure exemptions to the premanufacture notice requirements of the Toxic Substances Control Act [TSCA].” Earthjustice says the PFAS approved through these exemptions represents “about half of the PFAS in commerce.”
The petition was filed on behalf of a coalition of civil society groups from across the United States. Earthjustice argues that due to the persistence and cumulative harms from small volumes of PFAS (FPF reported, also here), “EPA cannot continue to conclude that PFAS ‘will not present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation’—the finding that is required for an [exemption through the TSCA].” Earthjustice stated the “EPA is violating TSCA, its own regulations and the Administrative Procedure Act” by allowing PFAS to be manufactured and sold in the US without the full pre-manufacture notice review process. Therefore, the coalition is asking the EPA to revoke the approvals.
Meanwhile, the EPA continues to work on advising the federal government in its efforts to purchase products that do not contain PFAS “to the ‘maximum extent practicable.’” Chemical Watch reports that the EPA “is ‘interested in expanding’ the guidelines into” sectors including food and cafeteria services, labs and healthcare, and professional services.
Food and Drug Administration
On September 30, 2022, US President Joe Biden signed a bill to continue funding the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as the rest of the federal government, but without several bipartisan FDA reform amendments such as a ban on PFAS in food packaging. In June 2022, the US Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions added an amendment that would ban PFAS from food packaging by 2024 to a routine bill funding the FDA (FPF reported). The House version of the bill, passed shortly thereafter, did not include the PFAS ban. In the months since as the Senate and House reconciled the two versions of the FDA bill, civil society organizations and a bipartisan group of Congress members tried to keep the PFAS ban and other FDA reforms in the final bill.
In September the FDA bill was grouped with the federal funding bill designed to keep the government from shutting down at the end of the fiscal year. When the two bills were connected the FDA reform amendments including the Keep Food Containers Safe From PFAS Act were removed. According to Chemical Watch, “industry and NGO proponents hope lawmakers will incorporate those excluded measures into a bigger spending bill that Congress will need to pass after the November midterm election to keep the government funded into 2023.”
References
Earthjustice (October 13, 2022). “Petition to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.” (pdf).
EarthJustice (October 13, 2022). “Half of “forever chemicals” in commerce approved through EPA loopholes.”
Julia John (October 6, 2022). “US EPA to extend PFAS-free procurement guidelines to more goods.” Chemical Watch
Julia John (October 3, 2022). “Cosmetics reform, PFAS food packaging ban dropped from US spending bill.” Chemical Watch
Safer Chemicals Healthy Families (July 19, 2022). “More than 100 groups from across the country urge Congress to ban toxic PFAS in food packaging.”
117th US Congress (November 2, 2021). “Keep food containers safe from PFAS act of 2021.” Congress.gov
Read more
Clark Mindock (October 13, 2022). “EPA loophole lets 600 toxic PFAS chemicals evade review, petition says.” Reuters
