2024-04-04 15:57:32
EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
Massively present in everyday life, these substances called PFAS owe their nickname to their very long life cycle and, for some, to their harmful effect on health.
MPs approved this Thursday at first reading an environmentalist bill aimed at restricting the manufacturing and sale of products containing PFAS or «eternal pollutants» , however excluding kitchen utensils from the scope of the law, following strong mobilization this week from manufacturers. Adopted without difficulty in committee last week, the bill was the subject of lively debates between the left and the presidential camp, and, more subdued, between the government and the majority. It was ultimately approved unanimously, with 186 votes in favor and zero once morest.
Massively present in everyday life (Teflon pans, food packaging, textiles, automobiles, etc.), these per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances called PFAS owe their nickname to their very long life cycle and, for some, to their harmful effect on health. The main article of the text presented by the ecologist Nicolas Thierry plans to ban from January 1, 2026 the manufacture, import and sale of any cosmetic product, wax product (for skis) or textile product. clothing containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, with the exception of protective clothing for security and civil safety professionals. All textiles will be affected by the ban from January 1, 2030.
The application of the ban to kitchen utensils, initially provided for in the text, was removed by the deputies in session, several elected representatives RN, LR and the majority showing themselves sensitive to the arguments of the manufacturers concerning the risks for employment . The majority had proposed to postpone the ban on these products from 2026 to 2030. Postponement considered too important by environmentalists, who did not want to go beyond 2027. The majority responded by purely and simply deleting the paragraph of the discord, causing a strong reaction on the left. “Once once more”the majority allied to LR and the RN will have “given in to lobbying (from the manufacturer) Seb, to the detriment of the health of the French. It’s a shame”reacted the environmentalist deputies. “We have lost 2 million industrial jobs in recent decades in France (…) Who is going to make us believe that all of this is the fault of ecology?”for his part launched LFI deputy François Ruffin in the hemicycle.
The kitchenware manufacturer Seb sounded the alarm this week on the threat that such a law would pose to some 3,000 jobs at its factories in Rumilly (Haute-Savoie) and Tournus (Saône-et-Loire) which notably manufacture Tefal stoves. A «casserolade» with several hundred employees was organized on Wednesday a few steps from the Assembly. Following the vote this Thursday, the household appliances group said it “reassured that science and reason have prevailed today in the hemicycle”. “We thank our employees, union organizations, local elected officials and our customers for supporting us”, added management. The group’s only regret, vis-à-vis other industrial families: “that ultimately article 1 was not deleted in its entirety, which would have been logical”.
Read also“Eternal pollutants” in tap water: what impact on health?
“Non-dangerous” PFAS?
The government wanted to go beyond this exclusion of culinary products, and supported amendments from LR and Renaissance aimed at removing the main article of the law, but it was not followed by its majority. Like Gabriel Attal on Wednesday, the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure defended before the deputies the need to act at the European level to prohibit the use of certain PFAS, within the framework of the European regulation on chemicals Reach . “Restrictions have already been put in place (in Europe) and bans will be advocated, pronounced shortly”, argued Roland Lescure, rejecting on the other hand the idea of a general ban. In particular polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE) which is used for stoves “is very likely one of the PFAS which will be judged as non-dangerous” by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), he argued.
The rapporteur Nicolas Thierry reminded him of the character «massif» of exposure to PFAS, and the “serious health risk” that it represents, emphasizing that the proposed restriction at European level is “necessary” more “not enough”. He rejected a strategy of distinguishing between «bons» et “bad” PFAS, emphasizing that the persistence of perennial pollutants “sufficient to classify them as substances of concern”.
Among the other measures of its text adopted in the hemicycle, the application of the polluter pays principle with a tax targeting industrialists who reject it – despite the opposition of the government. Or even the obligation to control the presence of PFAS in drinking water throughout the territory. The majority also adopted an article that it had added in committee, which provides for the end of aqueous discharges of PFAS within five years.
The text, which might now be taken up by the environmentalist senators as part of the day reserved for them on May 30, was the first of eight presented by the deputies as part of their «niche» parliamentary.
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