Norway moves on PFOA sales ban

Norway has become the first European country to introduce legislation that bans the sale of products and textiles containing PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). One of its uses is to make textiles more weather-resistant, but concerns about the chemical’s toxicity have been raised in the textile industry and elsewhere.

The report in Ecotextile News says there are calls to extend the transition period for this ban as there is currently no agreed-upon procedure to test down to the trace levels that Norway’s Climate and Environment Ministry has identified (0.001 percent PFOA in a mixture, 1.0 ug/m2 in textiles).