EPA backtracks on claims US has phased out toxic PFAS compounds

The Environmental Protection Agency quietly changed website language to acknowledge that two highly toxic PFAS chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, have not been fully phased out in the US. Independent testing and agency probes found PFOA leaching from plastic containers made by Houston-based Inhance, which produces as many as 200 million containers a year used across agriculture and industry. Regulators and scientists classify PFOA as a human carcinogen and say virtually no level in drinking water is safe, yet Inhance continued production after early enforcement orders and maintains its products contain only PFOA “impurities” reduced by about 90% and pose no unreasonable risk, according to its submitted assessments.

The reversal traces to a 2015 voluntary “phase-out” agreement with eight manufacturers and a six-year legal battle sparked by testing from the advocacy group Peer. The EPA ordered Inhance to cease production in 2022 and again in 2023, but a federal appeals court overturned a ban and subsequent lawsuits were dismissed on standing grounds. After Peer’s complaint under the Information Quality Act, the EPA altered its site wording to admit limited ongoing manufacture and use, prompting calls from former agency scientists and advocates for an outright ban and stronger enforcement given evidence of continued domestic production and persistent public-health risks.