The Commission today adopted, under REACH Regulations, new measures in the EU chemicals legislation to protect human health and the environment from the use of undecafluorohexanoic acid, PFHxA, and related substances. These subclasses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances-PFAS-are very persistent and mobile in water, with their uses in certain products presenting an unacceptable risk to human bodies and to the environment.

The restriction on PFHxA adopted today focuses on uses where the risk is not adequately controlled and for which alternatives are available, and does so in areas where the socio-economic costs will be limited compared with the human health and environmental benefits.

The rule would also ban sales and usage of PFHxA in consumer textiles like rain jackets, food packaging like pizza boxes, consumer mixtures like sprays used for waterproofing, cosmetics like skin care products, and uses of firefighting foam that compromise safety, such as training and testing. This does not compromise the use of PFHxA in any other uses, such as semiconductors, batteries, or fuel cells designed for green hydrogen.

This new limit is a quantum leap in the reduction of PFAS emissions, considering that PFHxA has been widely used as a substitute for another banned PFAS, Perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA. The Commission's move is based on the scientific evaluation done by ECHA's committees and thus has successfully passed the scrutiny with the European Parliament and the council.

Background:
PFASs earned the nickname 'forever chemicals' because they are not able to break down in natural environments. Considering innumerable cases of soil and water contamination, special attention should be given to PFAS as active players in many industrial processes and even in use within many consumer products.

Over the past two decades, the EU has adopted an increasingly proactive stance regarding the goal of decreasing PFAS-related pollution. Under the Chemical strategy for sustainability, the Commission committed itself to take action far and wide under REACH-the EU's Chemicals Legislation-but also under other Environment and human health-specific legislation with regard to the use of and contamination with PFAS. When deciding upon such action, the Commission takes full account of the availability of alternatives for PFAS used in applications needed for the Twin Transition to a green and digital economy and of the strategic autonomy of the Union, as well as of the competitiveness of European industry. This limit, proposed by the Commission, represents another try under REACH at exposing communities to less PFAS-which is another thing altogether from the so-called "PFAS total ban" currently under consideration by ECHA, the European Chemicals agency, after a 2023 proposal by five European governments.

CHEM Trust and other NGOs have been calling for action on the PFHxA restriction since 2022 and repeatedly expressed concern over the delays and warned about any reduction of scope. More than two years after the expert committees of the European Chemicals Agency, ECHA, had issued their opinions supporting a general restriction, the Commission finally took a decision. The commission decided to deviate from the opinions and put the limit on product uses and products, excluding those concerning industrial uses.

How we are exposed to PFAS:
We are exposed to hundreds of PFAS at the same time through part of the products we use daily, plus via environmental routes such as drinking water and some kinds of food. Since water treatment plants have quite a hard time removing PFAS from water, contamination of drinking water with PFAS has also cropped up as an issue.

How Harmful PFAS:
PFAS are toxic to humans and wildlife; the two most studied chemicals in this family, PFOA and PFOS, disrupt the hormonal system-so-called endocrine disruptors-interfere with the reproductive system and development of the foetus, affect the immune system, and have been linked to reduced responses to vaccines in children. They promote the development of certain cancers, such as kidney and testicular cancer. Contamination

PFAS is resistant to environmental degradation and highly water-mobile. This tends to indicate that once released into the environment, either during its manufacture or after it leached out of a consumer product, PFAS will remain intact for unimaginably long periods of time as it migrates with the water-that is, transportable over long distances.
These are a family of chemicals that have been found in the environment all over the world, including utterly isolated locations, such as the Arctic. It has also been found in the blood and breast milk of people and wildlife from all over the world.

A sample taken between 2003 and 2023 by scientists and environmental agencies has laid bare the full extent of PFAS pollution at thousands of sites across Europe, including the UK.

Threat to Future Generations of People and Wildlife:
It is very difficult, if not impossible, to remove PFAS from the vast ocean environment. In combination with PFAS extreme persistence, this means that for decades, even once today we stop emitting PFAS, it will still be exposing people and wildlife to these toxic chemicals via environmental routes.

How PFASs are Regulated: The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international treaty designed to eliminate or restrict the production and use of the most toxic chemicals of global concern. Three categories of PFAS have so far been listed under the Convention to date: PFOS and related chemicals: Global elimination since 2009; PFOA and related chemicals: Global elimination since 2009; PFHxA-related chemicals: Global elimination since 2022 with exemptions.

European level: Various other subclasses of PFAS are restricted through the EU chemical regulation REACH. The PFAS chemical family comprises over 10,000 individual chemicals. The overall environmental concentration of PFAS is still increasing: only restriction of the whole PFAS group could avoid further accumulation of PFAS in the environment by avoidance of regrettable substitution within the PFAS family.

How can we avoid PFAS:
Food: Avoid non-stick cookware; homemade foods are far better than fast foods and take away,
Textiles: Check the labeling of PFAS- or PFC-free
Cosmetics: Products with names beginning or ending in fmuoro or PTFE should be avoided, as should dental floss coated with PTFE.