PFOA banned under Stockholm Convention

PFOA, a fluorinated chemical, has been used in everything from firefighting foams to greaseproof paper, but is readily absorbed by the human gut and highly persistent. Parties to the Stockholm Convention agreed on Friday to place it on annex A of the convention, which requires them to ban its use and production.

Exemptions for using and producing perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF) were also reduced at Friday’s meeting, although the substances are not subject to an outright ban as recommended by a UN expert committee in September.