California Chamber of Commerce Drops Resistance to Potential PFAS Restrictions

By Chemical Watch | ENHESA | August 26, 2021

Read the full article by Chemical Watch (ENHESA)

“The California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) and other industry groups have dropped their opposition to a pair of bills to ban per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in children’s items and food contact materials (FCMs), boosting the measures’ chances of becoming law.

CalChamber is now neutral regarding AB 652, which aims to prohibit the persistent substance class in children’s products, and AB 1200, which seeks to restrict the compounds in food packaging and require disclosure for their use in cookware. Senior policy advocate, Adam Regele, said problems with earlier versions that passed the state Assembly ‘have been adequately addressed with amendments’ in the Senate.

Following these modifications, CalChamber and seven affiliated organisations jointly sent change-of-position letters to the legislation’s sponsors on 20 and 25 August. Consequently, Mr Regele said, ‘we would expect both bills to get out of the legislature’, noting Governor Gavin Newsom’s enactment of previous PFAS measures.

According to Bill Allayaud, the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) California director of government affairs, the current proposals should “clear the Senate next week”, and the Assembly will likely concur in the Senate’s amendments.”…

This content provided by the PFAS Project.