EU Considers Banning ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Consumer Products

Equipment used to test for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, in drinking water at Trident Laboratories in Holland, Mich., on June 18, 2018. Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP

EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall says the European Commission is considering banning PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” in consumer products.

PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, do not break down in the environment, raising concerns about the consequences of them building up in ecosystems, drinking water, and the human body.

Roswall said that while there would be exemptions for industrial use, a ban must be on the table to limit their build-up in the ecosystem.

“This is something that is important for us human beings, of course, but also for the environment, but I think also for the industry so they know how they can phase out PFAS,” Roswall said.

In December 2024, the European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report warning that many European water systems have been polluted with PFAS.

Animal testing has led to the belief that PFAS could cause cancer, liver damage, a weakened immune system, and hormonal problems in the human body.

An EU water framework directive requires that member states monitor their rivers and lakes for chemical pollution that exceeds environmental quality standards (EQS).

A study based on data gathered from 1,300 monitoring sites from 2018 to 2022 found chemical pollution in 51 percent to 60 percent of rivers, 11 percent to 35 percent of lakes, and 47 percent to 100 percent of coastal waters that went beyond the EQS limit, according to the EEA.

“The widespread presence of PFOS and potentially many other PFAS in Europe’s water is a clear challenge to the EU’s zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment,” the EEA stated. “It also compromises the EU policy target of achieving good chemical status for Europe’s water bodies by 2027 at the latest, as laid out in EU policy.”

In February 2024, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) said that consumer products using “grease-proofing material” containing forever chemicals, such as food packaging, are banned.

“PFAS are a diverse group of thousands of chemicals that resist grease, oil, water and heat,” the FDA stated. “The FDA has authorized certain PFAS for limited use in cookware, food packaging and food processing equipment.”

However, because exposure has “been linked to serious health effects,” the agency issued the order to protect consumers from “potentially harmful food-contact chemicals.”

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has officially designated forever chemicals as hazardous under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, a legal stipulation that will put the responsibility on those who have polluted the environment with the chemicals.

In October 2021, EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced the PFAS Strategic Roadmap, which set new regulations on PFAS in community water systems.

The initiative to tackle PFAS in U.S. water comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which earmarked $9 billion for removing chemicals from water supplies.

Several municipal Texas water systems were cited in April 2024 for exceeding the EPA’s forever-chemical limit. Some local governments argued that the technology to remove PFAS, such as carbon water filtration, will be expensive.

According to a 2023 report from the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the new PFAS standards would force local governments to “invest more than $50 billion to install and operate treatment technology over the next 20 years in order to comply,” and the “operational costs for individual clean water utilities” will increase by 60 percent.

The AWWA also said that new technologies are not “a silver bullet” for PFAS in water.

“The cost of remediation technologies can vary dramatically, depending on the extent of contamination, the selected remediation method, and the scale of the project,” AWWA stated.