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The administration will now monitor the impact of microplastics and pharmaceuticals on drinking water, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday (USA Today).

What’s going on: The EPA will add microplastics and pharmaceuticals to “the EPA’s containment list, joining PFAS (otherwise known as “forever chemicals”) and disinfection products” (USA Today).

• This is the first time that the EPA is designating microplastics and pharmaceuticals as priority containment groups.

A new program: HHS also announced the launched of a new Systematic Targeting of Microplastics Program.

• The program will create a toolbox for measuring, researching and removing micro-and nano-plastics in the human body.

The background: In late 2025, seven U.S. governors and 175 environmental and health groups filed a legal petition calling on the EPA to add microplastics—microscopic bits of plastic that have been found everywhere from human bodies to the ocean—to the list of contaminants to monitor.

What’s next: The EPA will accept comments on the draft CCL once it has been published in the Federal Register, on which the NAM will weigh in.

If you have any questions, please contact NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen at [email protected] or NAM Director of Chemicals, Materials, and Sustainability Policy Reagan Giesenschlag at [email protected].