EU Bans a Forever Chemical in Jackets and Pizza Boxes

Brussels — A European Union ban on one of the "forever chemicals" took effect on Saturday, 10 October, covering products people buy every day: rain jackets and other clothing, shoes, pizza boxes and other paper that touches food, waterproofing sprays and cosmetics such as skin creams.

The chemical is PFHxA, short for undecafluorohexanoic acid, together with its salts and related substances that can turn into it. It belongs to PFAS, a family of thousands of man-made chemicals that repel water, grease and stains. They are called forever chemicals because they barely break down in nature.

What the law says

The ban is Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2462, adopted by the European Commission on 19 September 2024 under REACH, the EU's main chemicals law. It entered into force on 10 October 2024 but gave companies two years to switch for these products.

From 10 October 2026, the regulation says, these substances may not be placed on the market or used above very low limits in five groups of products for ordinary consumers: clothing and accessories made of textiles, leather, fur or hides; footwear; paper and cardboard that touches food; mixtures sold to the public, such as waterproofing sprays; and cosmetics.

The limits are 25 parts per billion for PFHxA and its salts, and 1,000 parts per billion for the related substances, trace amounts measured in the material itself.

Some products are left out. They include certain protective equipment against serious hazards, medical devices, diagnostic tests and textiles used in construction. The rule also does not cover other uses of PFHxA, such as in semiconductors, batteries or fuel cells, the Commission said.

Why Europe acted

The Commission said in 2024 that PFHxA is "very persistent and mobile in water," and that its use in these products "poses an unacceptable risk to human health and the environment." The regulation itself says the chemical has "potential adverse effects on human health and the environment."

PFHxA spread as a stand-in. It is often used in place of PFOA, an older forever chemical the EU had already banned, the Commission said. Germany proposed the restriction in 2019, and the EU's chemicals agency, ECHA, assessed it before the Commission adopted it.

On 19 September 2024, Margrethe Vestager, then the Commission's executive vice-president, said the rule "will ban the use of this 'forever chemical' in for instance consumer textiles, pizza boxes and some cosmetics."

Food paper gets a double check

For food packaging, a second EU law already applies. Since 12 August 2026, the EU's packaging regulation has barred new food packaging with PFAS above set limits, Germany's consumer advice centres, the Verbraucherzentralen, said. The new ban goes further for paper: it covers all paper and cardboard that touches food, not only packaging, including baking paper, muffin cases and paper plates and cups.

Earlier testing showed why. In a 2021 study of 99 disposable food packages and tableware from fast-food outlets, supermarkets and online shops across Europe, 42 were tested in a lab, and in 32 of them forever chemicals had been added on purpose, the consumer centres said.

What it means in practice

For a shopper in Europe, new rain jackets, hiking boots, pizza boxes, takeaway bags and skin creams put on the EU market should no longer contain PFHxA above those traces. Makers have to switch to other solutions, such as coatings without fluorine chemicals, the consumer centres said. The ban covers what may be sold, not what people already own, and it does not order a recall. The regulation also does not apply to goods that were placed on the market before 10 October, so some older products may still turn up for a while.

Labels will not say whether a product contains PFAS, the consumer centres said. Their quick check for paper: put a drop of cooking oil on it. If the oil sits on top as a bead, the paper has probably been treated with forever chemicals; if it soaks in, it probably has not. They called it a first clue, not proof.

For travellers and readers outside Europe, the ban reaches any brand that sells there, including American ones. New York State has barred the sale of new clothing with intentionally added PFAS since 1 January 2025, according to the state's Department of Environmental Conservation. Heavy-duty waterproof outdoor gear made for severe wet conditions is covered only from 1 January 2028.

What happens next

The same regulation adds steps. Other consumer textiles, leather and fur that are not clothing follow on 10 October 2027, and firefighting foams at civil airports on 10 October 2029. Foams used in training and by public fire services were already restricted, with some exceptions, from 10 April 2026. A separate proposal, made in 2023 by five European governments, to restrict the whole PFAS family is still being assessed by the EU's chemicals agency and has not become law.