WEDNESDAY, FEB. 28, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The US Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) will no longer be added to food packaging in the United States.
“Grease-resistant materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are no longer sold for use in food packaging in the US,” Jim Jones, the agency’s Commissioner for Human Foods, said in a statement. “This means that the main source of dietary exposure to PFAS from food packaging such as fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, take-out paperboard containers, and pet food bags is being eliminated.”
PFAS have long been used in food packaging because they are resistant to grease, oil, water, and heat, the FDA explained. However, there is mounting evidence that some types of PFAS are tied to “serious health effects,” the agency said.
According to the nonprofit National Resource Defense Council, “PFAS have now been linked to a wide range of health risks in both human and animal studies – including cancer [kidney and testicular]hormone disruption, liver and thyroid problems, interference with vaccine effectiveness, reproductive harm, and abnormal fetal development.”
“The structure of PFAS means they resist degradation in the environment and in our bodies,” explained Eric Olson, NRDC’s senior strategic director of health and food. “Second, they move relatively quickly in the environment, which makes it difficult to contain their contamination. Third, for some PFAS, even very low levels of exposure can negatively affect our health.
According to Jones, the agency’s efforts to ban PFAS chemicals from food packaging come from solid science and involve industry collaboration. “In 2020, the FDA contacted companies to stop selling grease-proofing substances containing certain types of PFAS following our postmarket safety assessment,” Jones said. “Research conducted and published by FDA scientists has played a large part in helping the agency obtain commitments from manufacturers to voluntarily stop using these PFAS-containing substances in packaging products. of food on paper and paperboard.”
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