Abstract
Products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used for decades in industrial and consumer products. These compounds are persistent in the environment, bioaccumulative, and some are toxic to humans and other animals. Since the early 2000s, laws, policies, and regulations have been implemented to reduce the prevalence of PFAS in the environment and exposures to PFAS. We conducted a scoping literature review to identify how PFAS are regulated internationally, at the U.S. national level, and at the U.S. state level, as well as drivers of and challenges to implementing PFAS regulations in the U.S. This review captured peer-reviewed scientific literature (e.g., PubMed), grey literature databases (e.g., SciTech Premium Collection), Google searches, and targeted websites (e.g., state health department websites). We identified 454 relevant documents, of which 61 discussed the non-U.S. PFAS policy, 214 discussed the U.S. national-level PFAS policy, and 181 discussed the U.S. state-level PFAS policy. The drivers of and challenges to PFAS regulation were identified through qualitative analysis. The drivers of PFAS policy identified were political support for regulation, social awareness of PFAS, economic resource availability, and compelling scientific evidence. The challenges to implementing PFAS regulations were political limitations, economic challenges, unclear scientific evidence, and practical challenges. The implications for PFAS policy makers and other stakeholders are discussed.
Highlights
Since their invention in the 1930s and proliferation through the 1940s and 1950s, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used in a variety of industries including firefighting foam, aerospace technologies and consumer products
We had hoped to identify the drivers of and challenges to PFAS regulations outside the U.S, the articles retrieved about international PFAS regulations were primarily descriptive in nature regarding the policies themselves and did not discuss the drivers of and challenges to policy implementation
While we briefly describe some major international regulations, our analysis of the drivers of and challenges to PFAS regulations is only applicable to the U.S
Summary
Since their invention in the 1930s and proliferation through the 1940s and 1950s, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used in a variety of industries including firefighting foam, aerospace technologies and consumer products. PFAS have since been identified as persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic, for decades they were lauded for their ability to protect firefighters and military personnel through enhanced firefighting foams that both extinguish fires and prevent reignition [6,7,8,9]. Their stability in hostile environments made PFAS attractive to the aerospace, construction, and electronics industries [10,11,12]. People are exposed to PFAS through products in everyday living, including non-stick cookware, and food wrappers, as well as stain-resistant clothes and furniture [17,18,19]
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