HOUSTON, July 12,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Inhance Technologies welcomes
the opportunity to engage with the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) regarding today's announcement that EPA
will commence a proceeding under Section 6 of the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA) to further evaluate the fluorination of plastic
containers. In particular, EPA has stated its intent to solicit
information on this technology, including how fluorinated
containers are used and whether measures may be appropriate to
address any potential risk due to minute impurities of some
perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that may be
generated by use of the technology. Nothing in EPA's announcement
indicates that the agency has made a decision to ban or restrict
the fluorination of plastic containers or the sale or use of such
containers.
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Inhance Technologies will work with EPA, along with others in
the industry, to provide information about the fluorination of
plastic containers. We are confident that Inhance Technologies'
fluorination technology does not present a risk to the public or
the environment. In fact, fluorination of plastic containers
provides important benefits to the national economy. For example,
as compared to other barrier technologies, fluorination is less
resource intensive and has a lower carbon footprint. Additionally,
the strong and consistent barrier provided by the fluorination
process also prevents human and environmental exposure to volatile
chemicals that are stored in fluorinated articles during
transportation, storage, and use.
EPA took this action in response to a citizen petition, filed by
environmental groups, that seeks an immediate ban on the use of
fluorination of plastic containers based on the baseless
allegations that the technology poses an unreasonable risk. These
environmental groups seek to deny access to fluorinated containers,
which are critical to many industries from healthcare to crop
protection, and whose supply chain partners would be left without
viable alternatives for effective barrier protection, including for
applications such as vaccines, pesticides, and fuel systems.
Inhance shares EPA's interest in ensuring that any risks
associated with three specific PFAS compounds – perfluorooctanoic
acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorodecanoic
acid (PFDA) – are appropriately evaluated and managed consistent
with TSCA and the agency's own regulations. To the extent such
compounds are inadvertently formed during the fluorination process,
they are only formed as impurities at minute concentrations.
Inhance is confident that any further evaluation of the potential
risk associated with these compounds by EPA will conclude that
there is no unreasonable risk associated with the use of
fluorinated containers.
Background
The fluorination process utilizes only
fluorine and inert gases. No PFAS – including PFOA, PFNA, and PFDA
– are used at any point during Inhance Technologies' fluorination
process. To the extent that any PFOA, PFNA, or PFDA may be produced
during the fluorination process, such amounts are unintentionally
formed at very low concentrations as impurities, are not separable
from the polyolefin plastic containers, serve no functional
purpose, and have no commercial purpose or value. Concentrations of
PFOA, PFNA, or PFDA remaining on articles following fluorination,
if any, are exceptionally low, and the total annual volume of PFAS
compounds unintentionally formed by fluorination processes is
miniscule compared to other sources of these PFAS.
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SOURCE Inhance Technologies