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Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.
President Donald Trump’s EPA is considering a rule that would weaken regulations that limit the use of chemicals harmful to human health in consumer goods, The Guardian reports.
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of chemicals added to consumer products, oftentimes for their water- and stain-resistant properties. Exposure to PFAS is known to raise the risk of certain cancers, kidney and liver disease, and complications surrounding reproductive health. The chemicals are omnipresent in everyday life and contaminate drinking water across the United States.
The EPA places regulations on PFAS and other toxic chemicals in consumer goods based on the health risks they pose.
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• Get Involved: AGU Science Policy Action Center
Under a set of rules enacted by the Biden administration, if any specific use of a chemical in any consumer goods presented an “unreasonable risk” to human health, the chemical itself could be considered a risk. This regulatory framework was especially helpful to states, which can regulate chemicals categorized as an “unreasonable risk.”
The new rule submitted by the Trump administration would direct the EPA to separately evaluate the risk posed by each use of a chemical, as opposed to the chemical itself. Most individual uses of chemicals such as PFAS would not be considered a “unreasonable risks” because the chemicals are present in small amounts in most consumer goods, The Guardian reports.
“They are going to exclude a huge number of consumer products from being considered for risk management,” an EPA employee told The Guardian.
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The new rule could weaken state chemical regulations, including California’s Proposition 65, a highly effective law that has limited consumer exposure to harmful chemicals, including PFAS, in drinking water.
The proposed rule would take time to go into effect, however, as the EPA has limited staff to carry it out. Last month, the Trump administration announced plans to fire more than 1,000 EPA scientists and dissolve its Office of Research and Development, the arm of the agency that would traditionally be responsible for evaluating chemical limits.
The Trump administration has begun to roll back other PFAS protections, too. In January, the EPA withdrew a preexisting plan to limit manufacturers’ ability to release PFAS into wastewater.
—Grace van Deelen (@gvd.bsky.social), Staff Writer
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