HHS’s Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics Program (STOMP): Federal Action on Microplastics

⚡  BREAKING — Announced April 2, 2026 (less than 48 hours ago)  ⚡

Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics — ARPA-H Initiative Overview

What is STOMP?

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has launched STOMP — Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics — a nationwide $144 million program to create the definitive toolbox for measuring, researching, and affordably removing microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) from the human body.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the program on April 2, 2026, framing it as a direct response to growing evidence that microplastics are accumulating in human organs, blood, and even the placenta.

Program Structure: Two Phases, Three Goals

STOMP is organized around two phases addressing three core scientific questions:

Phase 1 — Measurement & Mechanism

• Develop gold-standard clinical tests to accurately quantify a patient’s microplastic burden across tissues and fluids at scale.
• The CDC will serve as an independent validator to ensure new measurement methods are universally trusted across labs.
• Produce a risk stratification mechanism — ranking plastic materials by biological harm — so scientists, policymakers, and industry share a common answer to which microplastics need to be addressed first and most urgently.
• Map how microplastics move through the body, how they cross biological barriers (e.g., gut lining, blood-brain barrier), where they accumulate, and how long they persist.

Phase 2 — Removal

• Drawing on pharmaceutical biology and bioremediation science, researchers will design clinically safe strategies to reduce microplastic burden in the body.
• Techniques will prioritize those at greatest risk: pregnant women, children, patients with chronic disease, and highly exposed workers.
• ARPA-H describes this phase as adapting bioremediation principles — typically used to clean up oil spills and contaminated soil — to safely remove nanoplastics from living human tissue.

Coordinated EPA Action: Contaminant Candidate List 6

The STOMP announcement was made in tandem with a separate but related action by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who announced that microplastics have been added to the agency’s draft Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 6) for the first time — opening the door for future drinking water regulation.

Key details about CCL 6:

• The draft list includes 75 chemicals, nine microbes, and four chemical groups: PFAS, disinfection byproducts, pharmaceuticals, and microplastics.
• Adding microplastics to the CCL does not regulate them but prioritizes funding, research, and information collection.
• A 60-day public comment period will follow before the list is finalized.
• CCL 6 is expected to be signed by November 17, 2026, after EPA consults its independent Science Advisory Board.

Quick Reference Summary

Document prepared April 4, 2026  |  Sources: HHS.gov, EPA, NPR, CBS News, C&EN