The environmentalist bill aimed at banning PFAS was amended by the National Assembly this Thursday, April 4. It no longer concerns kitchen utensils.
Lively debates. Unanimously adopted in committee last week, the bill aimed at restricting the manufacture and sale of products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances called PFAS was amended by deputies. Although they voted in favor of maintaining the main article, which provides for a ban on the manufacture and sale of certain products containing it, they ultimately excluded kitchen utensils from this ban.
Presented by the ecologist Nicolas Thierry, this bill was the subject of heated discussions between the majority and environmentalists, who did not find a compromise concerning the sale of these products. “Once again”, the majority will have “given in to (the manufacturer) Seb’s lobbying, to the detriment of the health of the French. It’s a shame”, reacted the environmentalist deputies. “We have lost 2 million industrial jobs in recent decades in France (…) Who is going to make us believe that all of this is the fault of ecology?”, asked LFI MP François Ruffin.
An action plan revealed
Management, unions and employees of the household appliances group SEB demonstrated on Wednesday April 3, 2024 in front of the National Assembly in Paris to protest against the proposed environmental law. The group has assured that it does not use Teflon in its non-stick coatings and affirms that PFAS, used in particular in the manufacture of the famous Tefal pans, do not present a danger to health.
For his part, the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure insisted on the need to act at the European level to ban the use of certain PFAS. “Restrictions have already been put in place (in Europe) and bans will be advocated, pronounced shortly,” he assured. An action plan was presented and should make it possible to “coordinate all administrations to extend the campaign of measures, to reduce discharges as quickly as possible, to clean up the environment with 26 actions, a pilot administration each time to ensure accountability “, did he declare.