I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7348 

To provide for the National Academies to study and report on a Federal 

research agenda to advance the understanding of PFAS, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2020 

Mrs. FLETCHER (for herself, Ms. SLOTKIN, and Mr. POSEY) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, 

and Technology 

A BILL 

To provide for the National Academies to study and report 

on a Federal research agenda to advance the understanding of PFAS, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal PFAS Re5 search Evaluation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl sub9 stances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals 


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1 that have been used in a wide range of products 

2 since the 1940s including firefighting foam, car3 peting, packaging, and cookware. There are more 

4 than 5,000 types of registered PFAS compounds. 

5 This chemical class is not currently regulated at the 

6 Federal level. 

7 (2) PFAS have been detected in air, water, soil, 

8 food, biosolids, and more. They accumulate and re9 main in the body for a long time, and can lead to 

10 serious health effects including cancer, low infant 

11 birthweight, liver and kidney issues, reproductive 

12 and developmental problems, and more. 

13 (3) There remains much unknown about PFAS 

14 toxicity, human and environmental health effects, ex15 posure pathways, as well as effective removal, treat16 ment, and destruction methods, and safe alternatives 

17 to PFAS. 

18 (4) There is currently no cohesive, interagency 

19 effort to address PFAS, and no Federal agency is 

20 focused on a multidisciplinary, cross-sector ap21 proach. Rather, there are fragmented efforts at var22 ious agencies that have failed to address the full 

23 scope of challenges presented by PFAS. 

24 (5) Regulatory action and cleanup depend on 

25 scientific analysis of toxicity data, decision making 


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1 on how best to deal with the thousands of PFAS, 

2 and understanding the significance of the many ex3 posure pathways that exist. A consensus study by 

4 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 

5 and Medicine would help inform decisions by Federal 

6 and State Governments, industry, and other stake7 holders on how to best address PFAS. 

8 SEC. 3. NATIONAL ACADEMIES REPORTS. 

9 (a) RESEARCH ASSESSMENTS OF PFAS EXPOSURE

10 AND TOXICITY.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

12 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

13 of the Environmental Protection Agency, in con14 sultation with the Director of the National Science 

15 Foundation, the Secretary of Defense, the Director 

16 of the National Institutes of Health, and other Fed17 eral agencies with expertise relevant to under18 standing PFAS exposure and toxicity, shall enter 

19 into an agreement with the National Academies to 

20 conduct a two-phase study and submit reports in ac21 cordance with this subsection to identify research 

22 and development needed to advance human exposure 

23 estimation and toxicity and hazard estimation of in24 dividual or total PFAS. 


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1 (2) PHASE I STUDY AND REPORT ON HUMAN

2 EXPOSURE ESTIMATION.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The phase I study re4 quired to be conducted under paragraph (1) 

5 shall, at a minimum— 

6 (i) consider life-cycle information on 

7 the manufacture, use, and disposal of 

8 PFAS-containing products to identify ex9 posure sources and potential exposure 

10 pathways for the public; 

11 (ii) evaluate the fate and transport of 

12 PFAS and their breakdown products; 

13 (iii) if feasible, estimate exposure to 

14 individual or total PFAS to determine rel15 ative source contributions for various expo16 sure pathways (such as air, water, soil, or 

17 food); 

18 (iv) determine environmentally rel19 evant PFAS; and 

20 (v) identify research needed to ad21 vance exposure estimation to individual or 

22 total PFAS. 

23 (B) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days 

24 after the date on which the agreement described 

25 in paragraph (1) is finalized, the National 


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1 Academies shall submit to Congress a report 

2 containing the findings and recommendations of 

3 the study described in subparagraph (A) and 

4 shall make such report available on a publicly 

5 accessible website. 

6 (3) PHASE II STUDY AND REPORT ON PFAS

7 TOXICITY AND HAZARD ESTIMATION.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The phase II study re9 quired to be conducted under paragraph (1) 

10 shall, at a minimum— 

11 (i) review animal and human toxicity 

12 information on the environmentally rel13 evant PFAS identified in the Phase I re14 port under paragraph (2) and develop an 

15 approach for conducting a hazard assess16 ment of these PFAS; 

17 (ii) give consideration as to whether 

18 chemical category-based approaches for as19 sessing toxicity would be appropriate for 

20 evaluating PFAS as a group; and 

21 (iii) identify research needed to ad22 vance toxicity and hazard assessment of in23 dividual or total PFAS. 

24 (B) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days 

25 after the date on which the Phase I report is 


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1 submitted to Congress under paragraph (2), the 

2 National Academies shall submit to Congress a 

3 report containing the findings and recommenda4 tions of the study described in subparagraph 

5 (A) and shall make such report available on a 

6 publicly accessible website. 

7 (b) RESEARCH ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT AND

8 TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES FOR PFAS CONTAMINATION

9 IN THE ENVIRONMENT.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

12 of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Di13 rector of the National Science Foundation, in con14 sultation with the Secretary of Defense and other 

15 Federal agencies with expertise relevant to the devel16 opment of PFAS alternatives and the management 

17 and treatment of PFAS, shall jointly enter into an 

18 agreement with the National Academies to conduct 

19 a study and submit a report in accordance with this 

20 subsection to better understand the research and de21 velopment needed to advance the understanding of 

22 the extent and implications of environmental con23 tamination by PFAS, how to manage and treat such 

24 contamination, and the development of safe alter25 natives. 


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1 (2) SCOPE OF STUDY.—The study described in 

2 paragraph (1) shall, at a minimum, include the fol3 lowing: 

4 (A) An assessment of the current research 

5 on such issues. 

6 (B) A description of the research gaps re7 lating to such issues. 

8 (C) Recommendations on how the Federal 

9 Government can address the research needs 

10 identified pursuant to subparagraph (B). 

11 (D) Recommendations on how research can 

12 best incorporate considerations of socioeconomic 

13 issues into the development of research pro14 posals and the conduct of research. 

15 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 540 days after 

16 the date on which the agreement described in para17 graph (1) is finalized, the National Academies shall 

18 submit to Congress a report containing the findings 

19 and recommendations of the study described in 

20 paragraph (2) and shall make such report available 

21 on a publicly accessible website. 

22 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 

24 (1) to the Administrator of Environmental Pro25 tection Agency, $3,000,000; and 


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1 (2) to the Director of the National Science 

2 Foundation, $1,000,000. 

3 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN. 

4 Not later than 180 days after submission to Congress 

5 of latest of the National Academies reports under section 

6 3, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

7 Policy, in coordination with all relevant Federal agencies, 

8 shall submit to Congress an implementation plan for Fed9 eral PFAS research, development, and demonstration ac10 tivities. In preparing such an implementation plan, the Di11 rector shall take into consideration the recommendations 

12 included in the reports in section 3. 

13 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

15 (1) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘‘Na16 tional Academies’’ means the National Academies of 

17 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

18 (2) PFAS.—The term ‘‘PFAS’’ means per- and 

19 polyfluoroalkyl substances. 

Æ 


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