UK MPs Urge Ban On PFAS “Forever Chemicals” In School Uniforms And Cookware

A cross-party group of MPs, acting through the House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee, has urged the UK government to ban “forever chemicals” known as PFAS from non-essential products, including school uniforms and cookware.

“School uniforms and non-stick pans are some of the everyday products that are treated with a group of chemicals, called PFAS, to make them stain and water resistant”

BBC

The BBC described PFAS as “so called because they persist and accumulate across ecosystems,” and said the committee called for a complete ban “unless manufacturers can demonstrate they are either essential for their product or there is no alternative chemical.”

BBC

The committee’s recommendations were published after MPs heard evidence during an inquiry, and BBC reported that Toby Perkins, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said: “Nearly all of us will have some level of PFAS in our bodies. But evidence we heard throughout our inquiry suggests that our dependence on PFAS has come with a cost to the environment, and perhaps to human health too.”

The BBC also reported that the government would consider the recommendations, while a Defra spokesperson said: “The first ever PFAS Plan shows the decisive action we are taking to better understand and tackle the sources of these chemicals, including through better guidance and monitoring, tougher rules on their use and support for transitioning to safer alternatives.”

The Independent framed the MPs’ push as a call to ban PFAS from products including “school uniforms, food packaging, and cookware,” and said the report recommends a phased restriction from 2027.

The Times of India similarly said lawmakers urged a phased ban on PFAS in “school uniforms, non-stick cookware and food packaging,” with exemptions only where use is “essential or unavoidable.”

MPs and campaigners tied the PFAS ban push to health and environmental risks they said are already emerging, while also warning that the evidence base is incomplete for all PFAS.

The BBC said there is “growing concern about the long-term environmental and health impacts of some of these ‘forever chemicals’,” and reported that Toby Perkins told MPs: “now is the time to act” before pollution gets worse.

BusinessGreen

It also said “there is not extensive research on the impacts of all PFAS,” but added that “some are proven to be toxic and carcinogenic,” increasing the risk of “kidney cancer” and raising “cholesterol.”

The Independent similarly said the committee’s report recommends restrictions on non-essential PFAS use and cited evidence linking PFAS to “increased risks of cancers, immune suppression, and fertility problems.”

The Guardian described how MPs visited Bentham, the North Yorkshire town that has “the highest levels of Pfas contamination in the UK,” and said MPs heard from residents with cancer who wondered if “the high levels of Pfas in their blood was linked to their ill health.”

The Guardian also reported that residents questioned whether foraging local food and fishing in the nearby river had left them exposed, and said “The worst part, they heard, was not knowing the impact the chemicals were having on the community.”

In parallel, GB News warned that PFAS chemicals are present in “almost everyone’s blood,” while also stating that scientists debate about risks at typical exposure levels.

Across outlets, the committee’s argument was that PFAS persistence and bioaccumulation create ongoing exposure risks, even when the chemicals are used for convenience in everyday items.

Toby Perkins, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, anchored the MPs’ case in both urgency and a precautionary approach, while scientists and environmental groups welcomed the direction of travel.

“A new report from the cross-party Committee of MPs, ‘Addressing the risks from Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)’, was published this week (23 April), raising specific concerns over the unnecessary use of PFAS in non-essential consumer products”

edie

The BBC quoted Perkins saying: “now is the time to act” before pollution gets worse, and it also reported that he told MPs the public should not panic, adding: “We do not need to panic, but we do need to take sensible precautions.”

The Guardian carried Perkins’s view that the committee called for the government “to phase out Pfas uses that are clearly non-essential, such as in kitchen equipment and school uniforms, and to take a precautionary approach to approving new Pfas.”

The Guardian also quoted Perkins’s argument that “Rather than waiting for proof that a chemical is harmful before banning it, companies should need approval before they introduce a new Pfas substance.”

Environmental campaigners and chemistry professionals backed the recommendations: the BBC said Stephanie Metzger, policy advisor at the Royal Society of Chemistry, called the recommendations “excellent” and said the committee recognised the government needed “mandatory rules rather than allowing industry to self-police.”

The BBC also quoted Mat Young from Cleaner Bentham, who said he was “really impressed,” and added: “Currently there's no recourse, whatsoever. To have a remediation fund [proposed] is absolutely brilliant - but this should have been done decades ago.”

The Guardian quoted Dr Shubhi Sharma from Chem Trust welcoming the report and saying: “Swift, decisive action, in line with the EU’s universal Pfas restriction, is urgently needed in the UK to protect both public health and the environment.”

Even as the committee pushed for restrictions, it also argued that regulation should be designed to avoid a “whack-a-mole” pattern, with the Guardian reporting the committee warned against replacement chemicals.

Industry groups and some chemicals watchdogs questioned whether the committee’s approach would be the right way forward, and the debate also turned on how the UK compares with the EU.

The BBC reported that Tobias Gerfin from the Federation of the European Cookware, Cutlery and Houseware Industries said: “banning this application is not really the right way forward,” while acknowledging that non-stick pans were not essential and warning of negative effects such as “more food waste.”

The Guardian

The BBC also said the committee warned that without the government introducing the same measure it risks the UK falling behind, and it quoted Chloe Topping, senior campaign manager at environmental charity CHEM Trust, saying the UK problem is that it “does not have the same resources - for example for funding and research capacity - to match the EU.”

The Guardian added that the committee’s report came after the government earlier this year outlined its plan for tackling PFAS, which environmental campaigners derided as “crushingly disappointing,” and it said the committee described it as “short on decisive actions.”

The Guardian also reported that the committee called for group-based restrictions to whole classes of PFAS to avoid a “whack-a-mole” approach, and it quoted Perkins saying “We do not need to panic, but we do need to take sensible precautions.”

At the same time, the Guardian quoted Jonatan Kleimark, head of programmes at chemicals watchdog ChemSec, saying the report’s proposals were too limited, and he argued: “It says the UK must avoid a ‘whack-a-mole’ approach to Pfas while itself proposing to whack only a few small moles.”

Kleimark’s critique included a specific claim that ChemSec calculated “barely 20% of Pfas exposure in the population is down to consumer goods,” while “the industrial uses and pesticides that contribute the vast bulk of Pfas pollution.”

The Times of India also described industry and government response, saying industry representatives argued a “blanket ban could have unintended consequences, including higher costs and increased waste,” while the UK government said it was reviewing proposals and pointed to its PFAS action plan focusing on monitoring and safer alternatives.

The committee’s recommendations set out a timeline and a set of mechanisms that, if adopted, would reshape how PFAS are used, restricted, and cleaned up, while the government said it would consider them.

“On 15 January, members of the House of Commons environmental audit committee (EAC) visited Bentham, the North Yorkshire town that has the highest levels of Pfas contamination in the UK”

The Guardian

The BBC reported that the committee has said from 2027 the government should phase out all non-essential uses of PFAS, and it listed products that would likely have to remove PFAS including “cookware, food packaging and everyday clothing.”

The Independent

The BBC also said the committee recommended applying the “polluter pays principle” so that companies using the chemicals pay for the cost of clean up, establishing a remediation fund for communities dealing with high levels of legacy pollution, and increasing the number of incinerators to destroy PFAS in waste products.

The edie report added that the committee urged the government to consult by March 2027 on a national remediation fund, and it said the committee argued that “PFAS are now central to everyday and some lifesaving products” while still warning that new PFAS substances are being developed faster than they can be assessed.

GB News warned that the UK currently relies on high-temperature incineration and said “only two facilities able to handle these chemicals,” while also warning that capacity may be stretched as more PFAS is removed from use and calling for “urgent investment in alternative destruction technologies.”

The BBC described the government’s position through Defra, saying the first PFAS plan shows “decisive action” and includes “tougher rules on their use” and “support for transitioning to safer alternatives,” while the committee said the government’s approach “disproportionately focuses on expanding PFAS monitoring rather than preventing or remediating contamination.”

The Guardian similarly said the committee warned that “The longer action is delayed in addressing the risks of Pfas, the greater the health, economic and environmental burdens will become,” and it reported that the committee called for bans to begin from next year.