UK government mulls ban of ‘forever chemicals’ in school uniforms

New amendments to the UK’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill could see PFAS – otherwise known as ‘forever chemicals’ – banned from use in school uniforms. The bill is currently in the committee stage in the House of Lords, and intends to introduce new regulation on everything from the cost of uniforms to the number of branded items a school can request pupils to wear.

At the crux of discussions is the use of PFAS in the relevant clothing. Amendment 202A, introduced by Baroness Kate Parminter, calls for an almost immediate ban on the inclusion of said chemicals in school uniforms. Meanwhile, Amendment 202B requests for action to be taken within 12 months on items particularly utilising artificial fibres that could “endanger the health or safety of persons [or] cause unreasonable public health or environmental health risk”.

The latter was brought forth by Baroness Natalie Bennett, who cited the increased number of medical and research reports on the negative impacts of materials like microplastics as a cause for concern. Bennett told the House of Lords: “We have a cocktail effect of bodies being bombarded from our clothing, our environments and our food. We are talking about young people, who are going to live for decades, accumulating more and more PFAS and more and more plastics in their bodies.”

The topic of PFAS – a group of synthetic chemicals – used in clothing has long been debated in the global apparel industry. While the substances are often used by brands and manufacturers to apply properties like water or stain repellency to clothing, certain PFAS, like PFOA and PFOS, have been recognised as persistent environment pollutants and have further been linked to a variety of health issues.

Other regions, like France and Denmark, have already set out to ban PFAS from school uniforms, while others are looking to halt the use of such chemicals in their entirety. In the US, for example, an increasing number of States are regulating the use of PFAS through new and incoming bills that either require a company to publicly disclose the use of such substances or prohibit their use altogether.