EPA quietly backtracks on claims US has phased out toxic Pfas compounds

Though the agency stopped short of a ban, the ‘phase- out’ was viewed as major progress on reining in Pfas pollution. Photograph: Rohane Hamilton/Alamy

The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly backtracked on a claim that the US has phased out two of the most dangerous Pfas compounds – Pfoa and Pfos.

The EPA has found that virtually no level of exposure to either in drinking water is safe, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies Pfoa as “carcinogenic to humans” and Pfos as “possibly carcinogenic”. Still, the EPA is allowing Houston-based Inhance to produce containers from which Pfoa has been found to leach at high levels into the containers’ contents. The company makes up to 200m barriers annually for plastic containers used across the US economy.