EPA Asks Industry to Stop Making, Importing 600 PFAS (2)

The EPA is asking chemical manufacturers to voluntarily withdraw 600 “forever chemicals” the agency approved for use under an expedited review process, the agency’s top chemicals official said Wednesday.

The agency’s chemical’s chief, Michal Ilana Freedhoff, announced the request as well as plans for a regulatory testing program at a webinar hosted by the Environmental Working Group. The organization has focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, since 2001.

The 600 chemicals are almost half of the PFAS that are or have been in U.S. commerce. But the EPA allowed companies to make or import the 600 PFAS after ...