Finding Essentiality Feasible: Common Questions and Misinterpretations Concerning the “Essential-Use” Concept
Open accessAbstract
The essential-use concept is a tool that can guide the phase-out of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and potentially other harmful substances of concern.
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The concept of 'essential use' has been proposed to identify which PFAS can be phased out, but there are challenges including a lack of comprehensive data on potential substitutes, the complexity of supply chains, product formulation, and product disposal.
“To mitigate the ban on the entire chemical class of PFAS, the concept of ‘essential use’ has been proposed to identify which PFAS can be phased out. However, there are several challenges inherent in this approach, with these including a lack of comprehensive data on potential substitutes, the complexity of supply chains, product formulation, and product disposal [80].”
From The EU’s Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Ban: A Case of Policy over Science (2023) · cites this paper as [80]
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An overview of the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
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- Authors
- Cousins, I. T., De Witt, J. C., Glüge, J., Goldenman, G., Herzke, D., Lohmann, R., Miller, M., Ng, C. A., Patton, S., Scheringer, M., Trier, X., & Wang, Z.
- Affiliations
- Stockholm University (SE)
- East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Greenville, NC 27834, USA
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Milieu Consulting SPRL, Brussels, Belgium
- NILU (NO)
- University of Rhode Island (US)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Commonweal (US)
- Masaryk University (CZ)
- European Environment Agency (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Cousins, Ian T.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts
- Publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Published
- 2021
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1079-1087
- ISSN
- 2050-7887 (ISSN-L)
- 2050-7895
- PMC
- PMC8372848
- OpenAlex
- W3173937427
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 2.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Environmental Science Processes & Impacts (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Journal of Media Literacy Education (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Veřejné služby Informačního systému (Masarykiana Brunensis Universitas) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- ETH Zürich Research Collection
- Funders
- Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas (2020-01978)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P42ES027706)
- Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Physical Sciences › Chemical Engineering › Chemical Health and Safety › Chemical Safety and Risk Management
- Keywords
- per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, substances of concern, chemical management, chemical alternatives, supply chain regulation
- MeSH terms
- Fluorocarbons, Humans
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