EPA Orders Issued to Inhance Technologies Related to Long-Chain PFAS Significant New Use Notices
In December 2022, Inhance submitted significant new use notices SNUNS for nine long-chain PFAS. Upon review of the SNUNs and consistent with EPA's Framework for Addressing new PFAS and New Uses of PFAS, EPA has determined that three of the PFAS (Perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA, perfluorononanoic acid PFNA and perfluorodecanoic acid PFDA) are highly toxic and present unreasonable risks that cannot be prevented other than through prohibition of manufacture. Therefore, under TSCA Section 5(f), EPA is prohibiting the continued manufacture of PFOA, PFNA and PFDA that are produced from the fluorination of HDPE.
EPA also determined that the remaining six of the nine PFAS chemicals manufactured by Inhance (PFuDA, PFDoA, PFTrDA, PFTeDA, PFHxDA and PFODA) may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment and, under TSCA section 5(e), is requiring the company to cease manufacture of these chemicals, and to perform additional testing if it intends to restart production. However, Inhance’s current fluorination process for plastics produces all nine of the PFAS chemicals subject to these orders simultaneously, including PFOA, PFNA, and PFDA. Thus, the production of the other six PFAS could not restart so long as the fluorination process continues to produce PFOA, PFNA and PFDA. These orders are effective 02/28/2024.
Note: Publicly available versions of the risk assessment and orders have confidential business information CBI removed.
Consumer Schematic for the Nine Significant New Use Notice Substances
Based on the wide variety of potential uses of the plastic containers fluorinated by Inhance, this schematic does not represent all of the potential exposure pathways for the nine SNUN substances from the containers fluorinated by Inhance.