ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Trump Administration’s efforts to weaken EPA guidance that would have put a strict ban on the import of products that contain the cancer-linked “forever” chemicals demands a swift reversal from the incoming Biden Administration. The chemicals, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), pose serious health risks for people and wildlife alike.

“This is yet another example of how the Trump Administration has sidelined science and ignored the fact that PFASs should be comprehensively regulated in the United States,” said Jennifer Hill, associate director for the Great Lakes Regional Center of the National Wildlife Federation. “The Biden Administration should swiftly re-instate the EPA’s original guidance and direct the EPA to comprehensively address PFASs by establishing maximum contaminant levels in drinking water and groundwater, developing effluent limitation guidelines and ambient water quality criteria through the Clean Water Act, and designating PFASs as hazardous substances under the Superfund cleanup law. These actions would go a long way toward protecting people and wildlife from widespread PFAS contamination found across the country.”