French Parliament ready to ban “ Forever Chemicals' in textiles, cosmetics

On Thursday, the Parliament of France will definitely approve an environmental bill that restricts the manufacture and sale of products containing perforated rented substances (PFA), a new “innovative” legislation for the European Union. The PFA, also known as 'Forever Chemicals', are omnipresent in everyday life, and their impact on health is a concern for the general public and the authorities.

The bill, which was approved in a first round in the National Assembly (the French Parliament), and then drafted by the Senate in May, must be approved as approved in the Senate, therefore, entering into force.

The bill is the most important in the list in the so -called 'Ecologist Slot', the day dedicated to parliamentary activity with respect to social and environmental legislation.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Ecological Transition of France, presented the debate by affirming that the bill supports, while asking for a nuanced discussion, urging Parliament to “take into account science” and “avoid generalized hostility to the PFA” .

“There are thousands of PFA. Some are well known, others less. Some are dangerous, others are considered low impact, ”he said.

PFAs are practically indestructible and are present in dozens of objects and products. They accumulate over time in the air, the ground, the water, the food and, ultimately, in the human body, especially in the tissues of blood and kidney and liver.

Although the knowledge of health risks associated with the various types of PFA is insufficient or in some cases absent, also according to health authorities, it is said that several chemicals forever cause adverse effects on human metabolism.

The key article of the bill proposes to prohibit as of January 1, 2026 For essential use. “

The bill also includes a provision for gravation manufacturers whose activities result in the high PFAS, after a principle of 'pay polluting'.

Although the initial scope of the bill has been reduced, in particular when excluding cooking utensils from the proposed prohibition: the rapporteur Nicolas Thierry (MP for Les Ecologes Party) said in the session that the bill is “a first response “That will make France” one of the best equipped countries to protect their population from risks related to chemicals forever. “

Deputy Cyrille Isaac-Sibille (of the Modem party), author of a report on the subject a year ago, described the bill as a “base stone” in the fight against the PFA, one that will transmit “a message to Europe that He says that France is ready and that fast thought is necessary. “

“Markers”

Once the bill has approved, parliamentarians will resort to more divisive legislation, the “markers” that will allow environmental politicians “to plant in the [political] Landscape “The” elements of your future program “for the next elections, said Deputy Pouria Amirshahi.

The debate is expected to become animated in the case of the 'Zucman Tax' proposed, a fixed tax of 2% on the assets of the “ultra rich”, people with assets with a value of more than € 100 million.

The bill is a creation of economist Gabriel Zucman, who defended him on Sunday in a forum with other politicians, members of the union and citizens in the French newspaper I mondecalling it a “common sense” while noting that “billionaires do not pay almost any income tax.”

The government coalition opposed the bill in a parliamentary committee last week. “France is neither a fiscal paradise nor an island”, and “we would be … the first country to implement this type of taxes”, while France is already “the most highly taxed country,” argued Mathieu Lefèvre, speaking by Macron's party.

The other five bills proposed by environmentalists are aim Asylum “, to” prevent the stock market. ” caused redundancies “and to guarantee the day work schedule for cleaners.

All bills were adopted at the committee level, which does not automatically mean that they are approved by Parliament. It is unlikely that everyone will be examined, since parliamentarians will have to conclude their work at midnight, as provided by these parliamentary “spaces”.