Valeriy Lushchikov/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Studies have shown that food packaging materials such as microwave popcorn bags are a major source of exposure to certain types of “perpetual chemicals.”
CNN –
Certain types of “forever” grease-repellent chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) will no longer be used in food packaging in the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.
The FDA's food studies have shown that food packaging materials such as fast food packaging, microwave popcorn bags and take-out pizza boxes are a major source of dietary exposure to certain types of PFAS, hormone-disrupting chemicals that can persist in the body's environment.
PFAS have been linked to a variety of health effects, including changes in immune and liver function, obesity, diabetes, certain cancers and lower birth weight.
While health and environmental advocates welcomed the new announcement, they noted that companies are already under pressure from government bans on removing PFAS from consumer products, including food packaging.
“I enthusiastically support the removal of PFAS from food packaging,” said Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a professor of pediatrics and population health at NYU Langone Health in New York City, who has studied the health effects of PFAS. “We’re talking about a fair portion of ongoing exposure.”
Twelve states have decided to ban or phase out PFAS in food packaging, said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.
“This is actually the culmination of government actions to push PFAS out of the market and particularly to push PFAS out of food packaging, where alternatives have long existed,” Benesh said.
The American Chemistry Council, a trade association, said in a statement Wednesday: “PFAS are a diverse universe of chemicals that are critical to many products that families rely on every day, including semiconductors and electronics, advanced batteries, modern Health applications and renewable energies.” . Not all PFAS are the same. Individual chemicals have different physical, chemical and toxicological properties as well as different uses.
“ACC supports strong, science-based regulation of PFAS chemicals and will continue to work with state and federal policymakers on this important issue.”
In 2020, the FDA announced that chemical manufacturers would voluntarily phase out certain types of PFAS for use in food packaging within three years after a scientific review concluded that these chemicals could remain in the body longer than expected.
Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter
“This public health 'victory' is the result of FDA's research and leadership, combined with collaboration with industry,” Jim Jones, the FDA's deputy commissioner for human foods, noted in a press release at the time about the milestone.
But Wednesday's announcement doesn't mean the packaging of your next fast food burger won't contain PFAS. The FDA estimates that following this phase-out, it could take an additional 18 months to deplete inventories of products containing these food contact substances.
Chemicals called long-chain PFAS were stopped being sold in the United States in 2011 due to safety concerns. Manufacturers then replaced them with short-chain PFAS, which have fewer carbons in their structure and were not considered as dangerous as long-chain PFAS, in their products to replace them.
Short-chain PFASs were not thought to accumulate in living organisms in the same way as long-chain PFASs, but research has shown that they may be metabolized into forms that remain in tissues.
CNN's Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.