"The priority of the French authorities is the culmination of the current ban process at European level, to eliminate the risks associated with PFAS", underlined the Ministry of Ecological Transition when presenting its plan.
Five European countries (Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway) filed last Friday a draft "restriction" of these substances, considering that their manufacture and use are "not adequately controlled".
This approach, which must be detailed on February 7, is being done with the "support of France", underlines the government.
Perfluorinated (PFC) and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) compounds are a family of synthetic chemical compounds comprising more than 4,700 molecules, some of which are suspected of having a harmful impact on health.
They owe their nickname to their very long life cycle.
Endowed with non-stick, waterproof and heat-resistant properties, these substances are present in several industrial fields and everyday objects: Teflon products, food packaging, certain textiles, etc.
Among the measures announced, the government unveiled an “approach for identifying industrial sites potentially emitting significant quantities of PFAS”.
Plants manufacturing fire-fighting foam or even non-stick frying pans will thus have to carry out analyzes as a preamble to a "step to reduce" discharges.
The Arkema site in Pierre-Bénite (Rhône) - recently invaded by environmental protection activists - must be a "forerunner" of this process of identification and reduction.
"The first step is to better understand these substances in the environment, to quantify and measure them, and then to set up actions to reduce them at source among the main emitters", underlined the Minister for Ecological transition, Christophe Béchu.
The NGO Générations futures, which recently published a study concluding that the presence of PFAS in French waters is "probably underestimated", welcomed France's support for a European restriction but otherwise coldly welcomed the government plan.
"The proposed measures remain very vague and still do not force manufacturers to limit their PFAS discharges", regretted François Veillerette, spokesperson for Générations Futures.
© 2023 AFP