PFAS “forever chemicals” are an invisible crisis hiding in plain sight. Future generations will look back and wonder why we didn’t act sooner to prevent the irreparable harm these persistent chemicals can do to human beings.
PFAS are now pervasive in our environment. They’re in our drinking water, our soil, our food packaging — even in our own bloodstreams. Their carbon-fluorine bonds make them nearly indestructible, which is why scientists call them “forever chemicals.” And the health impacts of many of them are sobering: cancer, reproductive harm, liver damage, and weakened immune systems, among others.
But it’s not all bad news. We can still prevent more PFAS contamination by eliminating these chemicals from the supply chain for consumer products. That’s exactly the approach we’re taking at Green Seal with a prohibition on all approximately 14,000 PFAS in the formulations for certified products.
Why a Class-Based Approach Matters
One of the most important questions we hear is why Green Seal prohibits PFAS as an entire chemical class, rather than regulating a short list of individual substances. The answer is rooted in science, experience, and the realities of how PFAS are used and replaced in the marketplace.
Evaluating thousands of PFAS one by one is both impractical and ineffective. Comprehensive chemical-by-chemical risk assessments can take many years per substance, while exposure continues unabated. During that time, manufacturers often substitute a restricted PFAS with a closely related, less-studied compound that shares the same problematic properties. This cycle of regrettable substitution has played out repeatedly over the last two decades.
What unites PFAS as a class is its persistence. The carbon-fluorine bond that defines PFAS also makes them extraordinarily resistant to degradation. Once released, they accumulate in water, soil, wildlife, and people, effectively permanently on human timescales. From a scientific perspective, this persistence alone represents an unacceptable risk, regardless of whether every individual compound has been fully characterized.
Real-world exposure also does not happen one chemical at a time. People encounter PFAS as mixtures in products, water, and food. Treating each PFAS as an isolated case fails to reflect how these chemicals behave in the environment and the body. Class-based regulation better aligns with how exposure actually occurs and closes loopholes that allow near-identical replacements to slip through.
The reality is that the problem is too large to manage molecule by molecule. This is why regulators and scientists increasingly support a class-based approach — and why Green Seal does as well.
It’s Not Simple, But It’s Possible
Eliminating PFAS from consumer product formulas isn’t as simple as crossing a chemical off an ingredient list. These substances are often hidden in proprietary raw materials — meaning even well-intentioned manufacturers can’t always be sure ingredients are formulated without PFAS.
PFAS are also used in a wide array of everyday products:
- Paints and coatings, where they provide gloss, stain resistance, or protection against peeling.
- Floor finishes, where they act as leveling and wetting agents.
- Adhesives, where they enhance wettability.
- Food packaging, outdoor gear, stain-resistant fabrics, cosmetics, and more.
A recent study found that half of tested paint products contained PFAS. Without a trusted system for verification, both buyers and brands are left vulnerable — buyers to the health risks, and brands to the reputational and legal risks of greenwashing.
That’s where Green Seal comes in.
Setting the Standard for Products Formulated Without PFAS
In 2022, Green Seal became one of the first eco-certifiers to enact an aggressive ingredient prohibition that covers PFAS as an entire chemical class — not just a few notorious examples. We mirror the definition used in the majority of newly enacted or upcoming U.S. state-level bans: any chemical with one or more fully fluorinated carbon atoms. That’s more than 14,000 substances.
This prohibition now applies across a wide swath of product categories our standards cover, including cleaning and laundry care, personal care and beauty, paints and coatings, sanitary paper and plastic trash bags.
The result: participating brands are placed in a true leadership position on PFAS, backed by rigorous, independent verification.
In fact, we are already seeing manufacturers rise to meet this higher bar. Recently, Midlab and Spartan became the first companies to earn Green Seal certification for floor care products formulated without intentionally added PFAS under our updated criteria.
Midlab’s scientists spent two years researching and testing PFAS alternatives to find a formula that delivered consistent performance under varying conditions. Their scientific and engineering innovation demonstrates that even in categories where PFAS are deeply entrenched for their superior performance, safer high-performing alternatives are achievable.
Why This Matters
The risks of PFAS are now too big for companies to ignore. Regulators are tightening restrictions, consumers are paying closer attention, and the science leaves no room for doubt: PFAS are toxic, persistent, and widespread.
This summer, Illinois became the latest state to enact a ban on the use of forever chemicals in common household products. Regulators are moving fast:
- At least 15 states — including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — have passed legislation restricting or banning PFAS in consumer products like cosmetics, food packaging, apparel, personal care, and/or paint products. With the exception of New Hampshire and Maryland, all of these states use the same expansive definition of PFAS as Green Seal.
- Minnesota, Maine, and New Mexico are going even further, prohibiting the sale of any products with PFAS at a future date.
We keep seeing the regulatory landscape shift rapidly around this chemical class — and in nearly every case, states are adopting the most expansive definition of PFAS, aligned with ours.
That means companies with Green Seal-certified products are ahead of the regulatory curve, protecting their brand from the reputational and financial risks of scrambling to catch up later.
The Path Forward
At Green Seal, we see eliminating PFAS as both a responsibility and an opportunity. Our updated standard is a critical step toward a safer future — but we can’t do it alone.
Manufacturers, purchasers, policymakers, and consumers all have a role in accelerating this transition. Together, we can eliminate PFAS from the supply chain and protect future generations from further contamination from these “forever chemicals.”