PFAS “forever chemicals” are spreading across our environment, with devastating consequences for human health. Yet the government’s strategy focuses more on observation than action. Action Alert!
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THE TOPLINE
- The White House’s new strategy on PFAS, focusing on generating data and identifying remediation technologies, is far too passive.
- Recent studies reveal that PFAS are prevalent in pesticides, with 30% of new pesticide approvals containing PFAS. The EPA’s failure to fully assess the risks and act decisively against these chemicals has exacerbated the contamination of water, food, and ecosystems.
- Only a complete ban on all PFAS chemicals can adequately address the mounting evidence of their harm; we need immediate legislative and regulatory action to protect public health and the environment.
The White House recently announced a new strategy to combat the ever-growing threat of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), often referred to as “forever chemicals.” While the goals—ranging from generating data to identifying technologies that can remediate PFAS pollution—move things in the right direction, they fall far short of what is needed to protect our health and environment from these insidious toxins.
This approach, essentially an “observe and report” model, neglects the urgency of the situation. We are continually learning more about the dangers of PFAS contamination, yet decisive action is lacking. As research continues to reveal, these chemicals are a ticking time bomb, and inaction only exacerbates their toll on our health and environment.
PFAS in pesticides
Consider a recently published study where the authors concluded that the EPA has utterly failed to fully assess the potential harms caused by the growing number of PFAS in pesticides. The study found that 14% of all conventional pesticide active ingredients were PFAS, and shockingly, this figure has jumped to 30% for pesticides approved in the past decade. This doesn’t even account for the PFAS that leaches through the fluorinated containers into the pesticides, which the authors note is another major source of PFAS in pesticides.
Pesticide use in the U.S. is vast—about a billion pounds are applied annually across hundreds of millions of acres. PFAS, which are designed to persist in the environment, are being sprayed everywhere, polluting the environment, infiltrating water supplies, and poisoning our food and our bodies.
The trend is clear: PFAS contamination is on the rise, and without swift regulatory action, this problem will only worsen, especially given the incredible persistence of these organo-fluorine compounds.
The feds act to protect the public industry
While the government claims it is acting to curb PFAS pollution, its actions seem more protective of the polluters than the public.
One way to make it look you’re doing something when you’re not: move the goalposts. U.S. lawmakers and the military are working to redefine how PFAS are classified. It looks like the goal is to exclude highly potent subclasses, such as fluorinated gases (F-gases), which are among the most widely used and economically significant PFAS.
This is in line with the case-by-case approach used by the EPA to define PFAS, which enables it to avoid an outright ban. This so-called “flexibility” allows the agency to sidestep its responsibility, protecting industry profits rather than public health.
There’s more. A group of Texas farmers and ranchers sued the EPA, claiming that PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge wrecked their farms, sickened and killed their animals, and threatened their health and livelihood. The EPA’s response? “It’s not our job!” The agency argued that identifying and regulating PFAS in sewage sludge is up to their own discretion and is not required by law.
Then there were the recent revelations by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a former EPA researcher, who allege the EPA provided false information to the public about the presence of PFAS in pesticides. Given the problem identified above represented by PFAS in pesticides, the EPA’s actions are indefensible.
These are not the actions of an agency working to protect the public—they are the actions of an agency captured by industry interests.
The path forward: a class-wide ban on PFAS
We already know that PFAS contamination is widespread. These chemicals have been detected in human tissues, animals, drinking water, and even remote parts of the globe. They accumulate in our bodies, travel vast distances, and wreak havoc on both human health and the environment. Research has shown their link to cancers, liver damage, and reproductive issues, among other devastating health effects.
The evidence is clear, and it’s mounting: PFAS pose an undeniable threat. If we hope to protect ourselves, our children, and the planet, we cannot continue playing regulatory whack-a-mole with these toxic chemicals. A class-wide ban on PFAS is the only way to stem the tide of contamination and protect future generations from further harm. There are already many US and multinational companies that have signed up for a ban—check them out as members of the PFAS Movement organized by ChemSec, the International Chemical Secretariat.
Action Alert! Write to Congress and the EPA, urging them to ban PFAS as a class to protect public health. Please send your message immediately.
