EPA Updates Website to Say PFOA May Still Be Produced and Used in the U.S., Guardian Reports

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has changed wording on its website that said the manufacture and import of the “forever chemical” PFOA had been phased out in the United States, The Guardian reported on October 18, 2026. The page now says quantities of PFOA “may be produced, imported, and used” by companies outside a voluntary EPA program, and that some uses of PFOS are ongoing.

The change was made last month in response to a complaint filed by the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) under the Information Quality Act, The Guardian reported.

What changed on the EPA page

• Before. The EPA site previously stated: “The manufacture and import of PFOA has also been phased out in the United States,” according to The Guardian.
• Now. EPA’s PFOA Stewardship Program fact sheet says domestic production and import of PFOA has been phased out by the companies participating in the 2010/2015 PFOA Stewardship Program, and that “Quantities of PFOA may be produced, imported, and used by companies not participating in the PFOA Stewardship Program and some uses of PFOS are ongoing,” according to the EPA page we read on Oct. 18.
• EPA’s response. In a response dated Sept. 18, EPA Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Douglas Troutman wrote: “In response to PEER’s request, the EPA is updating its websites,” The Guardian reported. The EPA did not immediately provide a comment to the newspaper.

The container dispute behind it

The Guardian tied the wording change to a six-year legal fight over plastic containers made by Houston-based Inhance, which the newspaper said makes up to 200 million plastic containers a year. EPA testing found PFOA in the containers, and the agency ordered the company to stop making them in December 2023; that order was overturned by a federal appeals court, the newspaper reported.

Inhance has denied that PFOA leaches out of its containers in measurable levels, told The Guardian that any PFOA from its products is an “impurity,” and said it has made adjustments to reduce that impurity level by 90%. “Published peer-reviewed third-party risk assessments conclude that estimated exposure does not present an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment,” chief operating officer Patricia van Ee wrote, according to the newspaper. Inhance also stressed that there was never a ban in place and that it was not one of the companies that agreed to stop producing PFOA.

Where drinking water fits

The EPA’s April 2024 drinking water rule sets limits of 4.0 parts per trillion each for PFOA and PFOS in public water systems, with compliance determined by running annual averages, according to the EPA. EPA says that on May 18, 2026, it proposed giving systems an option to request two additional years, to 2031, to comply; that rule is proposed, not final.

Why WaterVO™ follows this

PFAS turn up in wells, rivers and tap water, and this story is a reminder that PFOA and PFOS are not simply gone from U.S. commerce. Atmospheric water generation, which we call vapor optimizing (VO), takes a different route: it filters incoming air and condenses drinking water from humidity, rather than drawing on a well, a river or a municipal pipe. The honest trade-off is energy, because making water from air takes electricity. We think the trade is worth weighing for the water you drink.

Sources

• Tom Perkins, “EPA quietly backtracks on claims US has phased out toxic Pfas compounds,” The Guardian, October 18, 2026: theguardian.com
• U.S. EPA, “Fact Sheet: 2010/2015 PFOA Stewardship Program” (read Oct. 18, 2026): epa.gov
• U.S. EPA, “Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)” (April 10, 2024 final rule; May 18, 2026 proposed rules): epa.gov

Photo: Main entrance of U.S. EPA headquarters, the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building in Washington, D.C., by Moreau1 via Wikimedia Commons (public domain); cropped, headline added in the featured image.

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