EPA backtracks on claims that US successfully phased out toxic chemicals

WASHINGTON — The US Environmental Protection Agency has quietly backtracked on past claims that the country had successfully phased out two toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFOA and PFOS.

The website update followed a formal complaint filed under the Information Quality Act by the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). In an 18 September response letter, EPA Assistant Administrator Douglas Troutman confirmed that the agency is updating its web pages to reflect that quantities of PFOA may still be produced, imported, and used by companies in the United States.

The website previously asserted that the manufacture and import of PFOA had been halted nationwide following a 2015 agreement between the EPA and eight chemical producers to phase out production of both compounds.

The regulatory admission intersects with an ongoing legal battle involving Houston-based Inhance, which manufactures up to 200 million plastic containers annually for use across the US economy. PEER testing conducted in late 2020 detected high levels of PFAS in pesticides stored in Inhance bins, prompting an EPA investigation. The agency subsequently ordered Inhance to immediately cease production in March 2022 and again in December 2023. However, a federal appeals court later overturned the ban, and a federal district judge dismissed a related lawsuit brought by PEER after ruling that the advocacy group lacked standing.

Health concerns surrounding the chemicals are substantial. According to findings by an epidemiological panel convened during landmark early-2000s litigation regarding DuPont’s pollution in West Virginia, PFOA and PFOS are linked to cancer, heart disease, liver disease, and kidney disease. Furthermore, the EPA has determined that virtually no level of exposure to these compounds in drinking water is safe. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies PFOA as carcinogenic to humans and PFOS as possibly carcinogenic.

Inhance has contested the allegations regarding chemical leaching. The company stated that it has made adjustments to reduce PFOA impurity levels by 90%, maintaining that any chemical present in its products exists strictly as an impurity rather than a purposefully added substance. Patricia van Ee, chief operating officer at Inhance, stated that published, peer-reviewed third-party risk assessments conclude that estimated exposure from its containers does not present an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment.