Industrie ergreift Maßnahmen, um Regulierung der PFAS-Verschmutzung durch Halbleiter zu verhindern | Der Chips and Science Act hat zu einem Produktionsboom geführt, Experten zufolge könnte er jedoch enorme Mengen an Giftmüll erzeugen

From the article: Producers of PFAS chemicals and semiconductors, a key part of most electronics, have formed a group that develops industry-friendly science aimed at heading off regulation as the facilities release high levels of toxic waste, documents seen by the Guardian show.

The group, called the PFAS Consortium, was formed during a boom in domestic semiconductor production spurred by the Chips and Science Act that [has led](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/04/25/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-up-to-6-1-billion-preliminary-agreement-with-micron-under-the-chips-and-science-act/#:~:text=Thanks%20to%20President%20Biden’s%20CHIPS,manufacturing%20are%20making%20a%20comeback.) to $825bn in investment aimed at shoring up the industry.

Left unchecked, however, the boom could also generate huge levels of toxic waste, experts fear. The semiconductor industry is a prolific polluter and a major source of unregulated and unmonitored toxic PFAS, or “forever chemicals”, some of which also turn into potent greenhouse gas.

“Hardly anyone has been paying attention to the toxic waste from the industry as it grows at an enormous rate,” said Lenny Siegel, a member of Chips Communities United, a group working with industry and administration officials to try to put in place environmental safeguards.

“Next time you do a Google search or chat, you’re using chips … that were produced in a way that released PFAS in an environment irreversibly.”