Lobbyists Unveil Big Tobacco Playbook To Pressure MPs Against Regulating Toxic PFAS Tied To Disease, Hormone Disruption

Chemical firms are lobbying MPs not to ban “forever chemicals” in the same way as proposed in the EU, using arguments disputed by scientists and described as “big tobacco playbook” tactics, it can be revealed. Pfas, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and commonly known as forever chemicals owing to their persistence in the environment, are a family of about 10,000 chemicals, some of which have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including certain cancers. They are used across a range of industries, from cosmetics to firefighting.

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The Fluoropolymers Product Group (FPG) of Plastics Europe, a trade association, sought to cast doubt on the motivations behind ECHA’s proposals, writing in its evidence submission: “The main concerns driving regulators to include fluoropolymers in the proposed Pfas restriction under [the EU’s chemicals regulations] stem from their environmental persistence, despite fluoropolymers’ distinct safety profile compared to other Pfas.” However, experts said the idea that fluoropolymers wre of little health or environmental concern was far off the mark.

Lohmann said: “The production of fluoropolymers, and the use of fluoropolymers, by and large, has resulted in massive contamination of the areas where those plants are located.” “This magic claim that fluoropolymers are benign, and there’s no problem, just ignores the fact that wherever they are made and wherever they’re used, by and large, you have a major problem,” said Lohmann.

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For Dr Alex Ford, a biology professor at the University of Portsmouth, “there’s a lot of scaremongering at the moment” over the implications of an EU-style Pfas restriction. He said the responses submitted to the EAC are “copying the big tobacco playbook”, adding that Pfas compounds are “on a conveyor belt at different stages of deny, play down, claim it might not be as much of a problem”. Sharma said it was “a misconception” that the EU’s universal Pfas restriction was “a blanket ban and that it will automatically have adverse impacts on the economy”, adding that it “gives up to 13.5 years to sectors such as medicine, pharmaceuticals and green technologies like batteries and hydrogen to phase out Pfas”.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/28/chemical-companies-lobbying-mps-not-to-ban-pfas-forever-chemicals