EPA took the first step toward regulating “forever chemicals” leaching from plastic barrels, a win for environmental health advocates following defeat in a federal appeals court.
The agency announced Thursday it granted an April petition from seven advocacy groups asking regulators to review the risks of PFOA, PFNA and PFDA — three substances in the PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, family — created as a byproduct of fluorination, a process used to make the insides of plastic containers more durable.
“Given its unequivocal and well-documented findings of unreasonable risk under section 5, EPA was obligated to grant the petition and initiate rulemaking,” said Bob Sussman, one of the petition submitters and counsel for Center for Environmental Health and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
