firefighters and farmers, and have prompted major companies like McDonald’s, Ikea and Target to set deadlines for eliminating PFAS chemicals in all or most of their products.
The EPA said that its newly proposed ban on two chemicals and restrictions on four others are based on reviews of hundreds of scientific studies showing links to a variety of health problems and are focused on PFAS that can be reliably detected in water and for which there are “proven treatment technologies.
The EPA also sued DuPont in 2004 for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act and settled with the company the following year for $16.5 million.began testing drinking water at sites across the country, revealing widespread contamination in 27 states that affected 15 million people. The Defense Department followed in 2016, checking water around its military bases and finding it, too, contained PFAS chemicals.
The number of bills quickly rose the following year to 38, with four passing, beginning with Washington state, the first with a broad ban on the entire class of PFAS chemicals in products, beginning with firefighting foam and food packaging.ever since, with a record high of 245 bills introduced last year. Two documentaries and the 2019 film “Dark Waters” starring Mark Ruffalo, about Bilott’s fight with DuPont, helped fuel the state legislative movement.
“It’s a case study in the power of film, and it is really what storytelling is all about,” he said. “It is about reaching people where they are. It humanizes us. It humanizes the issue. And it transcends political bounds.” Companies that make products using PFAS have argued they are not liable, since they didn’t manufacture the substances. And many of the companies that make forever chemicals say their prevalence makes it difficult to pinpoint them as the source of health risks.
In 2019, the Washington legislature ordered the state Department of Ecology to seek PFAS-free alternatives for a variety of products and then set phaseout deadlines. Last year, legislators expanded the scope of the rule and set a 2025 deadline for some products, including apparel and cookware. Some companies that are going PFAS-free are pledging to play a more active role in keeping the chemicals from their products. McDonald’s said it is now conducting its own “robust testing for chemicals” with the goal of using PFAS-free food packaging by 2025.