While it is now notorious that PFAS are used in diverse consumer products (such as frying pans, textiles, food packaging etc), it is less well known that PFAS pesticides are intentionally sprayed on food crops. Yet, food is a systematic and direct route of exposure to PFAS pesticides for citizens. 37 pesticide active substances approved in the European Union are PFAS according to EU regulators. Some are persistent themselves and others break down into persistent metabolites, such as trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). They directly pollute soils, water resources and the food chain, thereby contributing to the ever-increasing background level of exposure of citizens and the environment to ‘forever chemicals’. PFAS active substances also raise additional environmental and human health concerns beyond persistence, such as endocrine disruption, toxicity for the reproduction and toxicity for aquatic species. Yet, these substances have been approved by regulators, ‘slipping through the cracks’ of Pesticide Regulation. More worryingly, the proposal for a ‘universal’ EU ban on PFAS excludes PFAS pesticides.
PAN Europe investigated the scale of PFAS pesticide contamination of fruit and vegetables sold in the EU in the decade 2011-2021. Our research is based on data from the national monitoring programmes for pesticide residues in food across EU Member States. The results show an increasing exposure of European consumers via daily food products. While this source of PFAS contamination is currently downplayed compared with that from other better-known PFAS, continued accumulation of PFAS in the food chain and arising chemical cocktails, pose chronic risks to human health. A ban on PFAS pesticides is urgent to curb PFAS exposure via food and protect citizens’ health, in particular that of the most vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, babies and children.