New York joins in the club of PFAS substance’s ban in Apparels and Clothing
What is PFAS? PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been widely used in a variety of industrial and consumer products that leads to cause health problems such as cancer, liver damage, and developmental issues. As a result, US (United States) Environmental Protection act (EPA) has taken the necessary actions which as follows. Developing new drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, two of the most well-studied PFAS compounds. PFAS monitoring in public water systems is required New York PFAS restriction: New York also started banning of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances which are comes up in clothes and apparels after California’s steps. The New York has banned the PFAS’s substances in food packaging will be effective from December 31st, 2022. After that on December 30th, 2022, Kathy Hochul who is New York Governor has signed a bill which will help to restrict the PFAS’s substances in Clothing and apparels effectively by December 31st, 2023. Even on last year Q3, California’s government has banned the PFAS substances in Clothing. The Golden States’ law also starts restricts the PFAS Substances on the Sales & Distribution on Clothing’s & apparels effectively by Jan 1st, 2025. Compared to California’s laws and some other similar laws, New York Law is less detailed. There are few details about finding the alternate with less toxic where are California’s Law prescribes the submission of ‘Certificate of Compliance’ by the distributors and manufactures. The main difference between the two laws is, both intended to restrict the use of PFAS Substances in Clothing where California also address the use of PFAS substance levels 100ppm by 2025 & 50 ppm by 2027. While other states laws also restrict the PFAS in garments which included California & Washington in addition to their existing regulations. And Vermont and Massachusetts states could affect the PFAS garments with pending legislation. However, this Law is not applicable to the Professional uniforms or the outerwear which are intended for extreme conditions. The detailed instructions will release to explain this law which will address both the dangerous firefighting and wet-weather conditions. However, for now, PFAS will provide double functionality in firefighter clothing, as it can be used as flame-suppression foams and fire-suppressive clothing. In addition, PFAS also have a water-resistance, which means the material does not become wet and heavy while being used. This bill going to ban the use of PFAS substances in all clothing’s by December 31st, 2023. A better understanding of the use of PFAS in apparel products is still developing, but New York apparel companies will need to ramp up their analysis in order to meet the December 31, 2023, compliance deadline.Speak with our PFAS specialists if you would like more information about these chemicals and the potential regulatory and litigation risks associated with them.
Did you know EPA released a final rule to regulate PFAS?
EPA issued a final rule on July 18, 2022, in response to a January 2022 announcement, which identified five additional PFAS that require reporting under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). Certain industries, including federal facilities, are required to report TRI data to EPA each year when they manufacture, process, or otherwise use TRI-listed chemicals above a certain level. The data include quantities of chemicals that have been released into the environment or disposed of as waste. By collecting information through the TRI, communities can learn more about how certain chemicals are handled in their area. As a result of the data collected, EPA is better able to understand the substances listed. The 5 PFAS affected with reporting requirement are as below: Perfluorobutane sulfonic acid also known as PFBS (Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number (CASRN) 375-73-5) Perfluorobutanesulfonate (CASRN 45187-15-3) Potassium perfluorobutane sulfonate (29420-49-3) Reporting of PFAS (2-Propenoic acid, 2-methyl-, hexadecyl ester, polymers with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, gamma.-.omega.-perfluoro-C10-16-alkyl acrylate and stearyl methacrylate) with CAS 203743-03-7 cannot be claimed as confidential as per new rule. Reporting for the above 4 PFAS will be due to EPA by July 1st 2023, for calendar year 2022 data. PFAS with CAS number65104-45-2(Chemical name-3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,11,11,12,12,12-Heneicosafluorododecyl 2-methyl-2-propenoate polymer with 3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,10-heptadecafluorodecyl 2-methyl-2-propenoate, methyl 2-methyl-2-propenoate, 3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,11,) meets the definition and reporting due July 1st 2022 for calendar year 2021 data. Other reporting requirements for other PFAS are as below: The threshold for Perfluorooctanoic acid with CAS -335-67-1 is 0.1%. For other PFAS additions have threshold level of 1%. • Use reporting thresholds of 100 pounds for each listed PFAS other than the ones established by National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) establishes TRI manufacturing, processing Do you want to learn more about the US EPA PFAS reporting guidelines? Talk to one of our compliance specialists today.