Originally published by the Environmental Working Group.

WASHINGTON – The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted to include critical reforms to the regulation of toxic fluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2021, which funds the Department of Defense.

Amendments by Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) to phase out the Pentagon’s use of PFAS in everyday products, require DOD to meet tough cleanup standards, expand PFAS blood testing to all service members, and require DOD to notify farmers and nearby communities about PFAS pollution were included in the NDAA.

“Our service members risk everything to keep us safe,” said Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs. “We need to do everything we can to protect them from toxic PFAS. EWG applauds Reps. Slotkin, Haaland, Torres Small and Houlahan for putting the health of our service members first.”

PFAS pollution has been detected at more than 300 military installations, but DOD has been slow to clean up legacy pollution or reduce ongoing PFAS exposures.

###