PFAS is the acronym for Polyfluoroalkyl Substances.
The European Commission is proposing that all PFAS be banned on the basis that they can be toxic, remain persistent and bioaccumulate in people and other organisms and may contribute to increasing health problems.
The number of everyday products that could be affected is staggering and various industries are starting to fight back against the proposal.
The membranes or architectural fabrics used by our Lightweight Structures Industry will be impacted if the proposed PFAS ban proceeds unless there are exemptions.
Fluoropolymers are used in tensile architectural membranes in a form of coating (PTFE), lacquer on PVC coating (PVDF), or film (ETFE).
It is very important that contractors and designers of architectural tensile membranes, contribute to this consultation to provide inputs supporting evidence and to give a more precise picture on the socio-economical impacts in case of ban of fluoropolymers.
There are also various Australian Government Departments formulating a position statement related to PFAS - see article
Some information on this topic appears under our LSAA "Industry News" page.
A new article added Sept 27 2023 with a petition/email response.
See up coming webinar on this topic by the ATA - details here (note US ET time)
Some References
An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) "The battle over PFAS in Europe". September 2023
An article on the European Chemicals Agency (ECHNA) website. "Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)"
An article in The Guardian re the fight back here
