One of my top priorities as Commissioner is increasing CPSC’s attention to chronic health hazards from consumer products—things in our homes that we interact with every day that silently poison our families. CPSC recently published a contracted report on PFAS, a broad class of chemicals commonly used in consumer products, from rugs and children’s clothing to toilet paper. PFAS are often called “forever chemicals” because they are tough to break down, and they are constantly building up around us and inside our bodies. In the report, CPSC’s contractor reaches several conclusions about PFAS that serve as a call to action:

• Some PFAS cause cancer: EPA has concluded that two PFAS—PFOA and PFOS—likely cause human cancers, and there is suggestive evidence that other PFAS, known as GenX chemicals, cause human cancers.¹
• The whole class of PFAS endangers human health: As a whole, according to the report’s synthesis of recent evidence reviews conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), “the class is broadly associated with adverse effects in the immune system, disturbances in lipid metabolism, adverse effects in the liver, thyroid hormone disruption, and developmental and reproductive toxicity.”²
• Many researchers believe PFAS should be regulated as a single class of chemicals: “[T]he traditional paradigm of evaluating and regulating chemicals on an individual basis in not tenable for the thousands of chemicals in this class (from the perspective of resources, time, and the urgency posed by possibly prolonging exposures and health risks).”³
  • “[T]he persistence of PFAS remains a concern across the class and many PFAS are expected to share similar target systems and health endpoints due to similar fundamental chemical properties.”⁴
• PFAS should be completely phased out: “There is still much that we don’t know about the long-term effects of PFAS on people, however what we do know shows that PFAS should be completely phased out.”⁵

I urge scientists and researchers, as well as all members of the public, to help CPSC find a comprehensive solution to the hazards posed by PFAS in consumer products. How can we detect hazardous levels of PFAS in consumer products? Which consumer products pose the highest risks? What can CPSC do to best protect consumers?

The report and supporting materials can be found here. Submit comments here.

Relevant highlights from the report are available in the attached document.

¹ RTI Int’l, Characterizing PFAS Chemistries, Sources, Uses, and Regulatory Trends in U.S. and International Markets 4-89 (2023).
² Id.
³ Id. at 4-82–83.
⁴ Id. at 4-82.
⁵ Id. at 4-89.