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WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) led 62 colleagues in sending a letter to Chair Brenda Mallory of the Council on Environmental Quality urging for U.S. agencies to avoid purchasing products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – or forever chemicals – which have been linked to serious health harms.

As the Biden-Harris Administration intends to release an updated executive order soon on sustainable government procurement, Dingell and her colleagues wrote, “Our understanding is that the Council on Environmental Quality is finalizing an Executive Order (EO) to guide sustainable procurement by the federal government. It is important to human health and the environment that any final EO includes a requirement directing federal agencies to look for items that do not include PFAS chemicals as an intentionally-added ingredient when making purchases during the government procurement process.

“As you finalize the order, we urge you to ensure this order includes a specific purchasing directive to avoid products made with harmful PFAS chemicals. We also urge CEQ to ensure that the order includes a requirement that other agencies follow the EPA’s guidelines when making purchases, as well as a requirement to report back to the White House on these efforts. As Members of Congress focused on efforts to reduce needless exposures to PFAS, we applaud the President for his commitment to prioritizing products that have not been made with PFAS as an ingredient.”

The full letter is available here.

Dingell has been a strong leader in addressing the PFAS crisis for many years, including authoring the comprehensive, bipartisan PFAS Action Act with Rep. Upton, which passed the House in July for the second time. This legislation would set national drinking water standards, designate PFAS as a hazardous substance under the EPA Superfund Program and designate as a hazardous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act, as well as listing it under the Clean Water Act to place discharge limits on industrial releases of PFAS and provide $200 million annually for wastewater treatment. Dingell also led introduction of the bipartisan No PFAS in Cosmetics Act and is working to reintroduce legislation to ban PFAS in food containers.

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