It's been exactly a year since the revelations of the Forever Lobbying Project about both the devastating impacts of forever chemicals (or PFAS), and the corporate influence campaign that has kept these harmful substances in our food, water, soil, and bodies.
The compelling nature of the Project’s evidence should have led EU officials working on the proposed ban on PFAS ‒ persistent chemicals found in products from frying pans to air conditioning units ‒ to re-consider their contacts with the industry lobby, and to ensure that the promised ban is as wide and comprehensive as possible.
But 12 months later the EU has, if anything, weakened its approach to regulate these uniquely harmful products. Chemicals lobbyists appear to be winning the battle.
The evidence is mounting about the problems caused by PFAS pollution, which is linked to kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, liver damage, and hormone disruption. Young children, people who are pregnant, and older people are especially at risk.
Recent stories have revealed PFAS contamination of our morning breakfast cereal, our lunchtime piece of fruit, and even our evening glass of wine.
High-level politicians are not exempt personally from PFAS contamination either. EU environment commissioner Jessika Roswall was among 24 European politicians who have tested positive for PFAS in their bloodstream.
The results of some individual studies, for instance on plastics in human brains, have been questioned by scientific peer reviews, but the broader findings remain unchallenged.
It is clear that it is much safer to ban PFAS production and use, rather than let these forever chemicals loose in our bodies and the environment and to then try to deal with the consequences later. It is also much cheaper. The Forever Lobbying Project revealed the €2 trillion costs of cleaning-up PFAS in the European environment over 20 years.
Meanwhile, major investors warn that there is a dwindling economic logic in producing hazardous substances, rather than innovative, safer alternatives.
But the EU’s PFAS ban remains a far-off hope and there are worrying indications that the regulators are looking to let the forever pollution industry off the hook.
A wave of deregulation is sweeping through the EU capital. A political chainsaw is cutting down existing laws to protect health, the environment, and workers’ rights, while industry lobbies are receiving a warm welcome from decision-makers as they send in their wish-lists of rules which they would like to see dismantled.
Also at risk are those rules which are still in the pipeline ‒ such as the proposed PFAS ban.
There is now a serious risk that the PFAS ban will be substantially cut-back by the deregulation chainsaw. While the European Commission continues to emphasise its commitment to tackling PFAS, its language around the scope of the proposed ban often emphasises ‘consumer uses’ such as cosmetics and waterproof clothing. A focus on consumer PFAS sounds like a good step, but could allow countless other, industrial sources of PFAS contamination to continue.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), in preparing a vital opinion on the proposed PFAS ban, also seems to be weakening its scope: last year it announced it would exclude eight sectors of PFAS uses from its evaluation. This "disastrous" decision must be seen in the context of intense corporate lobby demands for exemptions from a ban.
Disappointingly, the five countries initiating the PFAS ban proposal are also diluting their original proposal. It looks as if they may recommend that production of PFAS can go ahead if emission control measures are in place. They have also clarified that European PFAS production for export should continue.
All of these developments threaten to carve serious inroads into the PFAS ban as it was originally proposed.
The PFAS corporate lobby should have been chastened by the revelations of the Forever Lobbying Project, especially its findings about how some in the industry have relied upon a cynical “disinformation campaign”.
And decision-makers should have wised-up to the tactics of the PFAS lobby and protected themselves from the corporate interests so determined to undermine public-interest law-making. But this has not happened.
It is imperative that European politicians listen to the health, environmental, and economic arguments against PFAS and bring forward a comprehensive ban on forever chemicals as urgently as possible.
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Vicky Cann is a researcher with Corporate Europe Observatory. CEO collaborated with the Forever Lobbying Project.
Vicky Cann is a researcher with Corporate Europe Observatory. CEO collaborated with the Forever Lobbying Project.