November 28, 2025
I’m talking about forever chemicals.
And now – the Trump administration is trying to roll back the strict reporting rules President Biden tried to implement. Those rules would have required manufacturers to report the level of pfas chemicals – also known as forever chemicals –used in manufactured goods, in wholesale trade, waste management and in utilities….just to name a few.
Ok …so—let’s start with — what the hell are PFAS or forever chemicals? Well their technical name is perfluroalkyls and polyfluroalkyls? PFAS is the general term for thousands of different synthetic chemicals found in –at this point – everything around the world. They take a reeeeeeeallly long time to break down. The usage of some of these pfas chemicals have been phased out in the United States. But others are definitely still being used. They’ve been found in various products and industries since the 1950s, because of their ability to repel oil and water. They’re used in things like Teflon nonstick products, stain and water repellant in fabrics, carpet, cosmetics, paint, in cleaning products in food packaging and firefighting foams. Because the chemicals have been so widely used the environmental protection agency has said pfas chemicals are found in water, air, fish and soil. Not just in the us but around the world. And the centers for disease control says while their use is certainly declining, pfas chemicals are definitely found in all of our blood streams from adults to newborns. Pfas chemicals have been known – depending on your level of exposure to cause reproductive, developmental and hormonal issues along with some cancers and increased cholesterol levels. Take a breath. I know.
Ok now let me take you back to 2023 – congress ordered President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency to create a new rule that required manufacturers who use PFAS in their products –including importers– to electronically report information regarding, uses, production volumes, disposal, exposure and hazards caused by pfas between the years 2011 and 2022. But since that rule was published, the EPA has pushed the deadline for these manufacturers to actually report their PFAS usage and levels twice. They still haven’t been required to do it.
Fast forward to two weeks ago and President Trump’s EPA says they don’t want to go forward with this Biden-era PFAS reporting requirement. So – based on “stakeholder feedback” aka—all the pushback they got from the manufacturers who use these forever chemicals in our food and water – and because of President Trump’s executive order that demands deregulation – they *now* say the Biden reporting rules are unnecessary, and will cost small manufacturers too much money. Trump’s EPA argues the Biden era reporting rules wouldn’t provide any valuable data anyway and even if there was valuable data collected there is no framework in place to utilize that data.
It’s also important to know that within the last few weeks the Trump administration has also decided to rescind and reconsider a Biden EPA rule that limits the use of four specific pfas chemicals in our drinking water. On top of that the Trump EPA has within the last few weeks approved the use of two chemicals that are definitely considered PFAS chemicals to be used in lots of places including in our crops including oranges, tomatoes, lettuce almonds, broccoli, potatoes, peas, and oats. I could do whole videos about those moves specifically – let me know in the comments if you want to see those.
But back to this general PFAS reporting rule — instead of going forward with the PFAS reporting rules as they were written by the Biden EPA, the Trump EPA is going to still require this reporting – but they’ve added several new exceptions. Manufacturers who are now exempt from pfas reporting include manufacturers who use PFAS in mixtures or products at a really low level (concentration of point-one percent or lower,) importers who don’t know they’re sending products to this country that contain PFAS, certain PFAS byproducts, and research and development chemicals that contain PFAS. Those are just some of the things that no longer would have to be reported to the US government.
Now – here’s the most important part of this story – the Trump EPA can’t wave a magic want and make this happen. This EPA proposed change to the PFAS reporting rule is currently open. For. Public. Comment. So if you have something to say about it – now is the time. That comment period is open until December 29th.
Share your comments on this PFAS change here.
Read more from the Trump EPA on the PFAS reporting change here.
Reduce your risk to PFAS in your home here.
Best water filtration here.
Read the original USGS report on PFAS in drinking water here.
