Opinion: A bill before Congress calls for a heavy-handed ban of PFAS, a set of chemicals that are vital to semiconductor production.

A severe shortage in computer chips roiled the U.S. economy last year, costing auto manufacturers $210 billion in revenue alone as cars sat in lots waiting for chips to be installed.

Other sectors took hits, too, given that semiconductor are used in everything from computers, smartphones, consumer electronics to appliances and medical equipment. 

Luckily for consumers, in response to the shortages, Intel has broken ground on two chip manufacturing plants in Arizona to help secure supply chains and prevent further disruptions. When all is said and done, Chandler will be home to six semiconductor production facilities, employing around 15,000 people. 

The size and scope of these investments cannot be understated.

The growth experienced in Arizona’s chip manufacturing facilities may be stifled, however, if Congress proceeds with heavy-handed bans for perfluoroalkyls (PFAS) under the PFAS Action Act.

We need PFAS to make semiconductors

Perfluoroalkyls, a grouping of 4,000-plus manmade chemicals, are a vital part of the semiconductor production process – primarily because of their chemical resistance and surface tension-lowering properties. This makes the chips durable and resistant to liquids and erosion. 

The PFAS Action Act could seriously jeopardize chip manufacturing, and ultimately make the chip shortage much worse before it gets better. These chemicals are vital for the production of semiconductors, predominantly the use of coolant, and if Congress continues down the path of wanting to ban PFAS then consumers will be in a world of trouble.

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We know that this is a predictable outcome of heavy-handed PFAS policy because it is exactly what we are seeing in Europe, where officials in Belgium paused production at a chemical plant in response to the tightening of environmental regulations.

Reporting done by Business Korea highlighted that semiconductor producers had only 30 to 90 days of coolant inventory left before they would encounter serious production problems.

If Congress continues down the path it is on, it is naive to think that disruptions like this aren’t headed for the American market, with U.S. consumers bearing the brunt of the chaos. 

Keep them out of water. Don’t ban them outright

This isn’t to say that PFAS producers should be able to operate without any regard for the environment and PFAS exposure. In fact, the opposite is true.

Regulating PFAS has to be done from the perspective of clean drinking water, as opposed to declaring all PFAS chemicals hazardous. Ensuring proper production standards to avoid dumping or leakage helps solve the problem of contaminated water, without resorting to an outright ban of PFAS.

For chip production, this is vital, given that there are no viable alternatives to using PFAS in the production process.  

This is especially important in the context of everyday consumer products that rely on these chemicals in the manufacturing process. If production standards for PFAS are upheld, and enforced, we can tackle the clean drinking water issue while allowing for PFAS to be used where it presents little to no risk to consumers, like the production of semiconductors. 

This is the balancing act that Congress has to consider when deciding what is next regarding PFAS. It needs to evaluate the emerging science on PFAS, evaluating not just hazard but, more importantly, the exposure levels that make PFAS risky for Americans and from where those exposures come. 

PFAS Action Act could doom chip production

In December, the Australian National University published a study on PFAS. The findings provide some helpful insights into what anti-PFAS efforts should focus. 

One of the key findings was that exposure to PFAS in affected communities almost entirely came from water and firefighting foam. PFAS contamination was a result of poor production practices, or criminal dumping, and when PFAS firefighting foam leeched into the ground.

Those who drink contaminated water, or eat locally grown food that is contaminated, are at the highest risk of PFAS-associated health problems. This suggests that poor production processes carry most of the risk, while the risks associated with consumer items and other PFAS applications are limited, like the use of PFAS in the production of semiconductors. 

A clean drinking water approach to PFAS is entirely appropriate, but getting there cannot, and should not, result in outright production bans.

If Congress can narrow its sights on proper production processes, American consumers can avoid water contamination, without the chaos of an exacerbated semiconductor shortage and job losses in Arizona.  

But if Congress proceeds with the PFAS Action Act, Intel’s investment in Chandler and its plans to boost domestic chip production may be destined to fail. 

Originally published here

As discussed by the Star Tribune’s June 27 editorial (“Needed action on ‘forever chemicals'”), the Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to create clean drinking water thresholds on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Given the history of egregious cases of chemical dumping, like what was done by Dupont, popularized by the film “Dark Waters” with Mark Ruffalo, one can see why the EPA is taking such an approach to how PFAS are regulated in the United States.

Strangely enough though, the EPA’s approach to PFAS is at odds with another government body, the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA, the regulatory body responsible for ensuring that pharmaceuticals and medical devices work and that their health benefits outweigh their known risks, has continuously approved both drugs and devices that contain PFAS. Most don’t know that the medical community is heavily reliant on PFAS products. Take, for example, medical implants like vascular grafts, stent grafts, surgical meshes, catheter tubes/wire and heart patches. It is estimated that 8% to 10% of Americans have implantable medical devices, many of which rely on PFAS and are approved by the FDA. In fact, the implantable medical-devices market, valued at $72.2 billion, is expected to grow significantly as the American population continues to get older.

Drugs containing PFAS and conditions with treatments that introduce the presence of PFAS include, but are not limited to, tachyarrhythmias (flecainide), antidepressants (fluoxetine), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (celecoxib), antibiotics (levofloxacin), rheumatoid arthritis therapeutics (leflunomide), cholesterol-lowering agents (atorvastin) and even COVID-19 antivirals such as Paxlovid.

For all of those drugs and devices, the notoriously overcautious FDA has clearly stated that whatever PFAS exposure exists with these products, they are safe to the point where the benefits far outweigh the risks. Simply put, the presence of PFAS for these drugs and devices passes a safety check and a cost-benefit analysis.

What we have here is two government agencies taking drastically different approaches to the issue of PFAS. On one hand, the FDA is doing a cost-benefit analysis and approving the use of PFAS across the medical sector, while the EPA is seeking to enact drinking water standards that are mutually exclusive to the FDA’s conclusions.

So how should regulators proceed given that the left hand and right hand of the federal government appear to be at odds with each other? One key step forward would be to individually assess each chemical within the PFAS umbrella, identify where hazards exist and calculate where Americans are actually at risk — with “risk” being the hazard present multiplied by the exposure levels.

After doing so, regulators should focus on ensuring proper production practices to avoid instances of dumping, and severely punish those companies caught being reckless in the production or disposal process. That is the approach that can keep Americans safe and their drinking water clean, without running the risk of having the regulatory system be so stringent that production ceases and American patients are left without the lifesaving drugs and devices they need.

Luckily, some voices of reason have emerged in Congress, like that of Rep. Larry Buschon of Indiana. As a heart surgeon by trade, he has rightfully pointed out that the heavy-handed approach would put lifesaving medical technologies at risk. Hopefully, more will listen, and the federal government, in coordination with state regulators, can both limit PFAS exposure where it is dangerous and allow for it to continue to be used where safe.

Originally published here