How the plastics industry lobbied against a ban on ‘forever chemicals’

The initiative to ban so-called ‘forever chemicals’ (PFAS) sparked a major lobbying and disinformation campaign designed to weaken the proposal, with a cross-border investigation revealing the main tactics on Tuesday (14 January). 

The PFAS group consists of thousands of man-made chemicals that have been used for decades in products like cookware, food packaging, toilet paper and cosmetics, contributing to one of the most severe chemical-pollution crises in history.

In 2020, under the EU chemicals strategy for sustainability, the European Commission pledged to ban all PFAS as a group, unless their use is proven essential for society. 

In February 2023, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark — leading the push for a PFAS “universal restriction” under the EU’s REACH regulation — submitted a proposal to the EU chemical agency covering the entire PFAS family, with some exceptions until alternatives are available.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) public consultation, launched in March 2023, was deluged by submissions from industry players and allies and, therefore, it is still under review. But in the end, it will be up to the European Commission, in collaboration with member states, to determine whether to implement a potential restriction based on the ECHA’s opinion.

After reviewing over 1,000 lobbying arguments from an extensive document collection on the proposed ban, a group of 46 journalists from 16 countries (coordinated by the French newspaper Le Monde) found many arguments to be dubious, misleading, or potentially exaggerated.

A stress test on the objections to the proposed ban was conducted in collaboration with Gary Fooks, a professor at the University of Bristol, UK, who specialises in the commercial determinants of health.