Congress can improve the health protections of military personnel, their families, and civilian employees at Department of Defense facilities by passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025, including a provision directing the Department of Defense to use cleaning products free of the “perennial chemicals” known as PFAS.

The House version of the NDAA adopts a bipartisan effortled by Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), to require the switch to safer products. The provision would require the DOD to use cleaning products certified by the Environmental Protection Agency Safer choice program or similar certification programs.

Safer Choice lists products that are safer for human health and the environment. None of these products contain PFAS or other unnecessary hazardous ingredients such as nonylphenol ethoxylate or chemicals that can cause cancer or reproductive and developmental disorders.

If included in the final version of the NDAA, the provision would improve safety and indoor air quality for military personnel, their families and civilian employees who work or live in the region. 2.3 billion square feet of the buildings the department maintains worldwide.

Given the DOD’s billion-dollar purchasing power, it would also provide a financial boost to American companies that market and manufacture safer cleaning products.

This provision would create a shift toward the federal government purchasing safer products that are free of harmful PFAS, fueled by a Directive 2021 from President Joe Biden.

In response to the directive, the government has announced in april Federal contractors must use safer cleaning products in government buildings managed by the General Services Administration, or GSA. That has a big impact, since the GSA manages the vast majority of civilian federal buildings. But DOD-managed facilities are not affected by the new policy.

Risks of cleaning products

PFAS and other chemicals, such as volatile organic compoundsor VOCs, are found in a range of cleaning products. Many pose unnecessary threats to human health and the environment.

Many cleaning products, such as floor sealers and finishes – which harden into a film once applied – contain PFAS. Such products, used to strip and wax floors, caused elevated levels of PFAS in indoor air, a 2022 study found it.

Everyday products can release hundreds of volatile organic compounds, which have been linked to neurotoxicity and damage to the respiratory and reproductive systems, according to a 2023 peer-reviewed report. analysis of 30 cleaning products, including all-purpose and glass cleaners, air fresheners and more. The chemicals in cleaning products pollute the indoor air two to five times more than outside air, possibly even 10 times more. Some products emit toxic chemicals for days, weeks or even months.

A EWG research Of the more than 2,000 cleaning products on the U.S. market, many were also found to contain substances linked to serious health problems, including:

• Fumes that may cause asthma in otherwise healthy individuals, such as 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol, alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chlorides (C12-16), alkyldimethylethylbenzylammonium chlorides and others)
• Probable or possible carcinogens, such as formaldehyde and preservatives, which release formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane
• Chemicals known or suspected to be toxic to reproduction or development such as sodium borate, boric acid and diethylene glycol monomethyl ether

If the U.S. Department of Defense stops using cleaning products containing PFAS and other unnecessary hazardous ingredients, it will help reduce chemical risks to military personnel, families in military housing, and civilians working on military installations.

The Senate will next consider its version of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2025, which does not include the House provision on cleaning products.

To protect the health of service members and their families, the House of Representatives and Senate must work together to require DOD to use Safer Choice cleaning products as part of the final NDAA for Fiscal Year 2025.