TRSA supplier-partner member Milliken is among the companies featured in a July Specialty Fabrics Review article on how regulations limiting per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFAS) have prompted fabric innovation. This article can be found under the Substitute Technology subheading in the Our Industry’s Perspective section of TRSA.org’s PFAS Toolkit.

PFAS repels water, stains, oil, food, dirt and bio-fluids, among other substances. Regulators widely banned C8 PFAS chemistries, leaving fabric manufacturers with C6 PFAS, considered a safer alternative.  More recent studies indicate C6 might be similarly persistent and toxic, contributing to regulators’ increased interest in eliminating all PFAS. Among manufacturers foreseeing this possibility are those who provide durable water repellent (DWR) textiles, such as Milliken.

Jeff Strahan, Ph.D., director of research, compliance and sustainability for Milliken’s textile business, notes in the article that the company evaluated dozens of solutions across hundreds of products to ensure that every new, non-PFAS DWR had the same efficacy and functionality of the former PFAS options. Milliken announced in February that it successfully removed all PFAS from its textiles, fibers and finishes, making it the first multi-market U.S.-based textile manufacturer to do so.

Another Milliken textile product, its Westex AllOut flame-resistant fabric, used a PFAS-containing DWR. Strahan pointed out that the company has been able to find non-PFAS finishes that meet customers’ performance and longevity expectations, even for those involving roofing materials.

Another addition to the TRSA PFAS toolkit is the American Chemistry Council (ACC) compilation of comments from organizations around the country opposing EPA’s flawed drinking water proposal. EPA’s assessment of PFAS potential health effects is fundamentally flawed, ACC notes, and the agency has overstated the non-cancer risks associated with PFOA and PFOS exposure.

Other organizations have raised many of the same concerns as ACC, prompting the council to publish a small sample of their comments taking issue with the proposal and detailing the negative impacts that could result from enacting the rule.

Among water quality interest groups questioning the proposal are the American Water Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Ground Water Association and National Rural Water Association. Comments from regulatory agencies including state, regional and local water districts are included in the ACC blog as well.

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