Overview
- The EPA on May 20 proposed two rulemakings that would remove maximum contaminant levels for four PFAS and create a process for public water systems to request extensions to meet PFOA and PFOS limits.
- The proposed rescission includes elimination of the NPDWR hazard index that covered PFAS mixtures and would leave federal limits only for PFOA and PFOS while subjecting the changes to public comment through July 20 and a scheduled hearing on July 7.
- With federal scope and timing in flux, more than a dozen states have adopted new PFAS laws this year and many others are moving to class-based bans or disclosure rules that can keep stricter limits in place within their borders.
- Companies in the textile and apparel sector are speeding PFAS phaseouts but face deep supply-chain challenges because PFAS often enter products through chemical inputs and shared facilities, creating risks of cross-contamination and regrettable substitution.
- Parallel responses include enforcement probes such as the Texas attorney general's investigation of Lululemon and early-stage remediation research from Flinders University reporting a nanoscale 'molecular cage' that removed about 98 percent of short-chain PFAS in lab tests.