Inhance, a Houston-based company named as a defendant, produces tens of millions of consumer containers that contain PFAS, the consumer advocacy groups behind the lawsuit say. The plaintiffs ask a judge to order Inhance to follow Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that require it to receive approval for its production process. The groups also charge that regulators have known of the potential health threat since early 2021 but have failed to eliminate it.
“It’s a grave concern for me that these containers are used for food, full stop,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA scientist who is now with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which brought the suit with the Center for Environmental Health. “[Regulators] have known about this for a while & nobody has taken strong action to stop it, which is mind-boggling.” PFAS are a class of about 12,000 compounds typically used to make products resist water, stains & heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down.
