the National Assembly adopts at first reading a law to limit the diffusion of PFAS

The deputies, however, excluded kitchen utensils from the scope of the law.

The National Assembly adopted at first reading, Thursday April 4, a bill from environmentalist deputies intended to limit the spread of “eternal pollutants”. Massively present in everyday life, these per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) owe their nickname to their very long life cycle and, for some, to their harmful effect on health.

This bill was adopted unanimously, despite the government’s reluctance on several points, with 186 votes for and none against, but 27 abstentions. All of the Republican and National Rally deputies present abstained, according to the Assembly website.

The main article of the text plans to prohibit, from January 1, 2026, the manufacture, import and sale of any cosmetic product, wax product (for skis) or textile clothing product containing PFAS, with the exception of protective clothing for security and civil protection professionals.

Kitchen utensils, such as non-stick pans, were, however, excluded from this law, due to lack of compromise between the environmentalist deputies and the majority.

Industrialists mobilized against the text

The majority had, initially, proposed to postpone the ban on kitchen utensils to 2030, against 2026 in the bill tabled by the environmentalist deputies. The latter refusing to go beyond 2027, the majority responded by voting for the pure and simple deletion of the paragraph which mentions these products.

A decision taken when manufacturers had sounded the alarm about the threats to employment that such a ban would pose. The management and employees of the SEB group demonstrated in Paris on Wednesday.

Rapporteur of the bill, the environmentalist deputy Nicolas Thierry expressed, after the adoption of the revised text, his regret that “the crude lobby of an industrialist could have resonated with MPs”. “This text is a first major step forward of which we can collectively be proud”he still congratulated himself.