End of impunity in taps: the American authorities announced on Wednesday that they would establish threshold limits in running water for PFAS, nicknamed “eternal pollutants”, a first at the national level in the country, which illustrates a growing awareness concerning the health dangers of these chemicals. This new regulation should help reduce exposure to PFAS by around 100 million people, and prevent “thousands of deaths”, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
This is the “strongest measure ever taken on PFAS by the EPA,” said its boss, Michael Regan. Per- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS) are a large family of synthetic molecules used since the 1940s and having been developed for their heat resistance or even their impermeability.
They are for example used in waterproof textiles, non-stick pans (Teflon), detergents, cosmetics, and many other objects. Problem: these properties make them almost indestructible, allowing them to accumulate in nature or the human body. However, exposure to certain PFAS has been linked to cancers and can affect fertility or even the development of young children, the EPA stressed.
“There is no doubt that these chemical compounds have been important to certain industries and certain consumer uses,” Michael Regan said. “But there is also no doubt that many of them can be harmful to our health and the environment.” Elsewhere too, PFAS are finding themselves increasingly targeted by the authorities: in France for example, the National Assembly approved last week at first reading the ban on certain products containing PFAS.
5 year period
The U.S. government announced its intention to take action on PFAS in drinking water about a year ago. The regulations are now finalized, following a public consultation period. In detail, it concerns five types of PFAS – notably PFOA and PFOS, the most studied and the most often detected. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that between 6% and 10% of public drinking water systems (66,000 in total) will need to take steps to comply with the new standards.
They will first have three years to test their water and inform the population of the pollution levels observed. They will then have two additional years to act, for example by installing specific filters. Joe Biden’s government announced on Wednesday the provision of a billion dollars to help finance these installations – funds from a major infrastructure renovation law adopted in 2021. Around ten American states already had limits for PFAS in drinking water, and may keep them if stricter than national ones.
Other countries, as well as the European Union, also already have threshold limits. But those announced Wednesday by the United States are “among the strictest in the world, if not the strictest”, according to Melanie Benesh, of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an organization very committed to this subject. The new regulations are “historic”, she added to AFP. “This is a major victory for public health in the United States.”
Still “a lot of work”
The Biden government had announced that it would tackle PFAS in 2021, launching actions on several fronts. In February, American health authorities, for example, announced the end of the sale of food packaging containing PFAS (fast food packaging, takeaway meals, popcorn bags, etc.), thus eliminating the one of the main sources of dietary exposure. On Monday, the EPA also announced that it was asking companies working for the US administration to purchase cleaning products that do not contain PFAS.
Among the future measures still awaited: the EPA is working to designate several types of PFAS as “hazardous substances”. But there remains “much work to end PFAS pollution,” said Ken Cook, president of the EWG organization. “These chemicals are now contaminating every American from birth,” he said. And this “because for generations, PFAS have slipped on every environmental law, like a fried egg on a Teflon pan.”