Conservative fifth circuit overturns EPA’s ban prohibiting Inhance from using manufacturing process creating toxic compound
A federal appeals court in the US has killed a ban on plastic containers contaminated with highly toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” found to leach at alarming levels into food, cosmetics, household cleaners, pesticides and other products across the economy.
Houston-based Inhance manufactures an estimated 200m containers annually with a process that creates, among other chemicals, PFOA, a toxic PFAS compound. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December prohibited Inhance from using the manufacturing process.
But the conservative fifth circuit court of appeals court overturned the ban. The judges did not deny the containers’ health risks, but said the EPA could not regulate the buckets under the statute it used.
The rule requires companies to alert the EPA if a new industrial process creates hazardous chemicals. Inhance has produced the containers for decades and argued that its process is not new, so it is not subject to the regulations. The EPA argued that it only became aware that Inhance’s process created PFOA in 2020, so it could be regulated as a new use, but the court disagreed.
Conservatives are a blight on humanity.
Fucking hell we should be banning all disposable plastic, not just the obviously super toxic stuff fml
5th circuit is where all the problems come from
Wouldn’t paper based boxes be better for the environment, and our health, anyway? Why are we still using plastic boxes for food?
It’s an oil byproduct, cheap waste made into something that can be given to the public and called useful even when we know it’s killing us.
Big oil has entered the chat
Making paper is a pretty nasty process and wasteful as well. Cardboard also runs the risk of being heavier to transport than plastics, when it comes to single use anyway – and that means more energy and emissions to transport them.
It is biodegradable and comes from a natural resource that can be sustainable though. Plastic is just… There. Grocery stores have switched back to paper bags awhile ago instead of plastic, so it’s able to be done.
It’s a crap situation.
Grocery stores have switched back to paper bags awhile ago instead of plastic, so it’s able to be done.
Where? God, I wish. I ask for one and the cashier’s roll their eyes.
Everyone I know in the US has been using reusable bags for like ten years now.
And?
And what? You said people roll their eyes. That hasn’t been a problem in ten years.
And reusable bags are irrelevant in a conversation about stores switching back to paper bags. Where is this happening? You don’t know either.
How do they make paper impenetrable to greasy wet food? PFAS coatings…
Waxed paper, like they did before plastic.
Some food boxes are the really thick, compostable, paper boxes, that hold up pretty well to greasy foods. Another option is to place wax paper under the greasy food, between the food and the bottom of the box. Both options are better for the planet than the ones with pfas.
Pizza boxes?
Plastic is cheap and durable. The environmental and health concerns are rarely a factor for companies making the choice.
We could make them responsible for those things.
Plastic lobby says no.
I immediately knew this would be the fifth circuit.
Didn’t we use asbestos for decades too? JFC GOP.
It has been less than four years since we had a president that thinks asbestos is 100% safe and the push to remove it was a conspiracy by the mafia to get the construction contracts. We’ve conclusively known that it is toxic for over 100 years and there is some evidence that we have known for a couple thousand years.
Don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but the US has still been using asbestos. Just this month they finally banned chrysotile asbestos which is still in use.
I had no.idea. Wtf is wrong with us?
Why do they hate humanity so much? That’s a rhetorical question, but I also don’t truly know the answer
Endnote 3: The Origins of Conservatism from The Alt-Right Playbook
Money.
By the courts logic on this asbestos should be absolutely fine to put in everything since the harmful effects of it weren’t found until decades after.
The harmful effects were known in antiquity. It’s just that everyone found it so useful (and it was mined by slaves which were less vocal). So nothing new there.
Yay cancer in my chicken tenders
Guess I won’t be buying anymore frozen dinners for a while… It’s probably for the best lol
It is, but even so you’d probably be fine. Just don’t heat it in the plastic container.
Or get ones that aren’t plastic. I like the pot pies, and they have paper dishes as a bonus.
Awesome now my lead and mercury infused crystal drinkware company can come back into existence! It is also old technology, only found out about relatively recently comapred to the thousand years prior it was being used harmlessly enough.
Next stop, opening up a uranium glass cobranded company!
