In France, the deputies of the National Assembly have definitively adopted the bill to eliminate products containing per- and polypluoroalchilic substances, the well-known Pfas.
More specifically, the text – already under discussion since last year – will prohibit the use of PFAS from 1 January in cosmetics, in wax products, in waterproofing for clothing, clothes and textile products.
However, there are great absentees: the kitchen utensils are excluded from this rule.
French anti-pfas law
The bill contains three main axes to limit exposure to these substances. First of all, the Prohibition, in force from 1 January 2026, on the production, import, export and marketing of cosmetics, shoes, clothing, waterproofing products or ski waxes containing PFAS.
As we mentioned, the kitchen utensils, mentioned in a first version of the text, are not interested and the reason is one only one: a strong pressure from the lobby of the Tefal brand.
The government will have to establish a plan to put an end to the release of PFAS in the water within five years.
Water control
French law introduces the Mandatory control of PFAS in drinking water by the authorities. European legislation already requires that 20 pollutants of this large family of molecules are taken into consideration in the analysis of the water starting from 1 January 2026.
The French bill also expands the field of application of substances sought after by regional health agencies (Ars), with the aim of better evaluating the presence of TFA, the smallest of the eternal pollutants. The text also introduces greater transparency in the publication of the results of water inspections. The ARS will have to communicate them once a year, accessible to citizens, with digital means.
The tax
The law also introduces a tax for which “who pollutes pays“, So that manufacturers use large -scale PFAS contribute to finance the reclamation of land and waters.
The proceeds of this tax will go to the coffers of the water agencies, which will help the municipalities most difficult to modernize their purification system and only the largest companies will be interested
And in Italy?
While France ban the PFAS in different Product categories and introduces numerous regulatory interventions on the subject to protect human health, in Italy the Meloni government continues not to intervene, despite the widespread contamination of potable waters and serious cases of contamination in some areas of Veneto and Piedmont, declares Giuseppe Hungarian , responsible for the pollution campaign of Greenpeace Italy.
Even in the face of scientific evidence on the serious damage to health caused by some PFAS, some of which are recognized as carcinogenic, the Italian government takes no step forward to adequately protect public health and the environment. A national law immediately serves to prohibit the use and production of PFAS.
