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 under-
standing of PFAS, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal PFAS Re-
search Evaluation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl sub-
stances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals 
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that have been used in a wide range of products 
since the 1940s including firefighting foam, car-
peting, packaging, and cookware. There are more 
than 5,000 types of registered PFAS compounds. 
This chemical class is not currently regulated at the 
Federal level. 
(2) PFAS have been detected in air, water, soil, 
food, biosolids, and more. They accumulate and re-
main in the body for a long time, and can lead to 
serious health effects including cancer, low infant 
birthweight, liver and kidney issues, reproductive 
and developmental problems, and more. 
(3) There remains much unknown about PFAS 
toxicity, human and environmental health effects, ex-
posure pathways, as well as effective removal, treat-
ment, and destruction methods, and safe alternatives 
to PFAS. 
(4) There is currently no cohesive, interagency 
effort to address PFAS, and no Federal agency is 
focused on a multidisciplinary, cross-sector ap-
proach. Rather, there are fragmented efforts at var-
ious agencies that have failed to address the full 
scope of challenges presented by PFAS. 
(5) Regulatory action and cleanup depend on 
scientific analysis of toxicity data, decision making 
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on how best to deal with the thousands of PFAS, 
and understanding the significance of the many ex-
posure pathways that exist. A consensus study by 
the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 
and Medicine would help inform decisions by Federal 
and State Governments, industry, and other stake-
holders on how to best address PFAS. 
SEC. 3. NATIONAL ACADEMIES REPORTS. 
(a) RESEARCH ASSESSMENTS OF PFAS EXPOSURE 
AND TOXICITY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
of the Environmental Protection Agency, in con-
sultation with the Director of the National Science 
Foundation, the Secretary of Defense, the Director 
of the National Institutes of Health, and other Fed-
eral agencies with expertise relevant to under-
standing PFAS exposure and toxicity, shall enter 
into an agreement with the National Academies to 
conduct a two-phase study and submit reports in ac-
cordance with this subsection to identify research 
and development needed to advance human exposure 
estimation and toxicity and hazard estimation of in-
dividual or total PFAS. 
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(2) PHASE I STUDY AND REPORT ON HUMAN 
EXPOSURE ESTIMATION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The phase I study re-
quired to be conducted under paragraph (1) 
shall, at a minimum— 
(i) consider life-cycle information on 
the manufacture, use, and disposal of 
PFAS-containing products to identify ex-
posure sources and potential exposure 
pathways for the public; 
(ii) evaluate the fate and transport of 
PFAS and their breakdown products; 
(iii) if feasible, estimate exposure to 
individual or total PFAS to determine rel-
ative source contributions for various expo-
sure pathways (such as air, water, soil, or 
food); 
(iv) determine environmentally rel-
evant PFAS; and 
(v) identify research needed to ad-
vance exposure estimation to individual or 
total PFAS. 
(B) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days 
after the date on which the agreement described 
in paragraph (1) is finalized, the National 
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Academies shall submit to Congress a report 
containing the findings and recommendations of 
the study described in subparagraph (A) and 
shall make such report available on a publicly 
accessible website. 
(3) PHASE
II
STUDY
AND
REPORT
ON
PFAS 
TOXICITY AND HAZARD ESTIMATION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The phase II study re-
quired to be conducted under paragraph (1) 
shall, at a minimum— 
(i) review animal and human toxicity 
information on the environmentally rel-
evant PFAS identified in the Phase I re-
port under paragraph (2) and develop an 
approach for conducting a hazard assess-
ment of these PFAS; 
(ii) give consideration as to whether 
chemical category-based approaches for as-
sessing toxicity would be appropriate for 
evaluating PFAS as a group; and 
(iii) identify research needed to ad-
vance toxicity and hazard assessment of in-
dividual or total PFAS. 
(B) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days 
after the date on which the Phase I report is 
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submitted to Congress under paragraph (2), the 
National Academies shall submit to Congress a 
report containing the findings and recommenda-
tions of the study described in subparagraph 
(A) and shall make such report available on a 
publicly accessible website. 
(b) RESEARCH ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT AND 
TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES FOR PFAS CONTAMINATION 
IN THE ENVIRONMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Di-
rector of the National Science Foundation, in con-
sultation with the Secretary of Defense and other 
Federal agencies with expertise relevant to the devel-
opment of PFAS alternatives and the management 
and treatment of PFAS, shall jointly enter into an 
agreement with the National Academies to conduct 
a study and submit a report in accordance with this 
subsection to better understand the research and de-
velopment needed to advance the understanding of 
the extent and implications of environmental con-
tamination by PFAS, how to manage and treat such 
contamination, and the development of safe alter-
natives. 
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(2) SCOPE OF STUDY.—The study described in 
paragraph (1) shall, at a minimum, include the fol-
lowing: 
(A) An assessment of the current research 
on such issues. 
(B) A description of the research gaps re-
lating to such issues. 
(C) Recommendations on how the Federal 
Government can address the research needs 
identified pursuant to subparagraph (B). 
(D) Recommendations on how research can 
best incorporate considerations of socioeconomic 
issues into the development of research pro-
posals and the conduct of research. 
(3) REPORT.—Not later than 540 days after 
the date on which the agreement described in para-
graph (1) is finalized, the National Academies shall 
submit to Congress a report containing the findings 
and recommendations of the study described in 
paragraph (2) and shall make such report available 
on a publicly accessible website. 
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 
(1) to the Administrator of Environmental Pro-
tection Agency, $3,000,000; and 
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(2) to the Director of the National Science 
Foundation, $1,000,000. 
SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN. 
Not later than 180 days after submission to Congress 
of latest of the National Academies reports under section 
3, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy, in coordination with all relevant Federal agencies, 
shall submit to Congress an implementation plan for Fed-
eral PFAS research, development, and demonstration ac-
tivities. In preparing such an implementation plan, the Di-
rector shall take into consideration the recommendations 
included in the reports in section 3. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) NATIONAL
ACADEMIES.—The term ‘‘Na-
tional Academies’’ means the National Academies of 
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 
(2) PFAS.—The term ‘‘PFAS’’ means per- and 
polyfluoroalkyl substances. 
Æ 
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