A pilot enforcement project carried out by national enforcement authorities in 13 European Economic Area (EEA) countries between November 2023 and April 2024 found that 6% of about 4,500 cosmetic products inspected contained hazardous substances. The project was undertaken under the auspices of ECHA’s Enforcement Forum.

The authorities looked mainly for the presence of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), long chain perfluorocarboxylic acids and related substances, plus two cyclic siloxanes. They found 285 of the cosmetics included hazardous chemicals, notably:

Researchers at the University of Bath have published a report in Chemical Engineering Journal about a method that removes at least 75% of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) from water using ceramic-infused lattices (or ‘monoliths’). PFOA is one of the two commonest perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These are under increasing scrutiny as ‘forever chemicals’ that take hundreds of years to degrade and are linked to health issues like harm to reproductive, developmental and cardiovascular systems.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken two separate actions on per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), both being part of its PFAS strategic roadmap, which aims to implement legislation by Q4 to reduce and destroy PFAS contamination in water, air and soil.

Under the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation, the agency has laid down new standards with legally enforceable maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) on five individual PFAS. These are more stringent than previously mooted limits:

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed an exemption for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting, requiring companies to submit data on products containing any level of PFAS to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) each year. Previously, those containing minimal concentrations of PFAS were exempt.

Chemours, DuPont and Corteva have reached an agreement in principle to resolve all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS)-related drinking water claims of a defined class of public water systems that serve “the vast majority of the US population”. They will pay about $592 million, $400 million and $193 million respectively into a settlement fund by 12 June.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published a proposed restriction of around 10,000 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on its website. Its scientific committees for Risk Assessment (RAC) and Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) will now start evaluating the proposal.

This followed three years of investigations by the national authorities of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. In a report submitted to ECHA on 13 January, they concluded that the risks from PFAS are not adequately controlled and should therefore be restricted.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has filed a petition in DC Circuit Court challenging the EPA’s Lifetime Health Advisories (LHAs) for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, above) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). These are both part of the much-maligned wider group of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).