Artificially Narrow EPA Definition of PFAS Mischaracterizes Widespread Threat to Health and Environment

(Past Pesticides, July 30, 2025) The definition of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also referred to as “without end chemicals” because of their persistence, continues to be debated in regulatory companies, with many scientists arguing that sure sorts of chemical compounds on this huge group should not precisely captured in danger assessments. A wide body of science on the antagonistic well being and environmental results of PFAS exists, as these artificial chemical compounds have develop into ubiquitous in nature, wildlife, and people, as demonstrated by biomonitoring research. Current analysis, documented in a literature assessment in Environmental Science & Technology and extra articles, highlights the significance of a common, cohesive definition of PFAS that includes all fluorinated compounds, together with the lengthy carbon chain PFOA (perfluorooactanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) in addition to the ultrashort-chain perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs). So as to shield well being and the setting from the ever-increasing risk of each lengthy and brief chain PFAS’ antagonistic results, together with cancer, endocrine-disrupting effects, and immune system damage, a complete definition of the compounds inflicting hurt is important to enough safety and regulatory selections.

The multitude of sources of PFAS and varied publicity routes results in widespread contamination of the setting and organisms. PFAS in agriculture represents a big supply, as PFAS may be pesticide lively components, used within the plastic containers pesticides are stored in, and as surfactants in pesticide merchandise. Moreover, PFAS are utilized in many different plastic storage containers and meals packaging, private care merchandise, nonstick cookware, cleansing provides, handled clothes, firefighting foam, and equipment and tools utilized in manufacturing—all of which contaminate food, water, soil, and the air.

A earlier Each day Information piece, titled “Science on ‘Forever Chemicals’ (PFAS) as Pesticide Ingredients and Contaminants Documented,” exhibits how and to what extent PFAS may be launched into pesticide merchandise, and the way this impacts well being and the setting. The findings are gleaned from public data requests to state and federal companies within the U. S. and Canada, in addition to from publicly accessible databases mentioned within the commentary “Forever Pesticides: A Growing Source of PFAS Contamination in the Environment.” In response to the authors: “The largest contributor to PFAS in pesticide merchandise was lively components and their degradates [chemical breakdown products]. Almost 1 / 4 of all U.S. typical pesticide lively components have been organofluorines and 14% have been PFAS, and for lively components accepted within the final 10 y[ears], this had elevated to 61% organofluorines and 30% PFAS.”

In 2025 alone, the U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA) has proposed the registration of 4 new PFAS lively, or fluorinated, components: cyclobutrifluram, isocycloseram, diflufenican, and trifludimoxazin. Past Pesticides’ feedback to EPA relating to these chemical compounds, together with 20 signatories on the isocycloseram submission, can be found here, here, here, and here.

The definition of PFAS utilized by the Group for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD) encompasses all kinds of fluorinated compounds (containing the component fluorine) and is “scientifically grounded, unambiguous, and nicely suited to establish these chemical compounds,” as described by scientists in a commentary revealed in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. Because the researchers describe, excluding sure fluorinated chemical subgroups doesn’t correctly symbolize the scope of PFAS, which they estimate to incorporate tens of millions of theoretical buildings, however extra virtually, a number of thousand which might be really manufactured.

The OECD chemical definition of PFAS states:

PFASs are outlined as fluorinated substances that comprise at the least one totally fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon atom (with none H/Cl/Br/I atom connected to it), i.e., with a number of famous exceptions, any chemical with at the least a perfluorinated methyl group (−CF3) or a perfluorinated methylene group (−CF2−) is a PFAS.

This definition of PFAS encompasses gases, pesticides, and prescribed drugs, a lot of which may degrade to kind further PFAS, akin to trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), that regulatory our bodies like EPA don’t embody of their definitions.

Within the literature assessment in Environmental Science & Technology, peer-reviewed scientific proof factors to 5 ultrashort-chain PFAAs as examples of dangerous compounds which might be traditionally missed and never included in all definitions of PFAS. The PFAAs, which all comprise lower than 4 carbon atoms, embody TFA, perfluoropropanoic acid (PFPrA), trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFMS), perfluoroethanesulfonate (PFEtS), and perfluoropropanesulfonate (PFPrS). Of those, TFA is the smallest perfluoroalkyl acid with solely two carbon atoms.

The authors report: “Our knowledge mining and evaluation reveal that (1) ultrashort-chain PFAAs are globally distributed in varied environments together with water our bodies, strong matrices, and air, with concentrations normally larger than these of longer-chain compounds; (2) TFA, essentially the most extensively studied ultrashort-chain PFAA, exhibits a constant upward development in concentrations in floor water, rainwater, and air over the previous three many years; and (3) ultrashort-chain PFAAs are current in varied organisms, together with vegetation, wildlife, and human blood, serum, and urine, with concentrations generally just like these of longer-chain compounds.”

Ultrashort-chain PFAAs are created each deliberately and unintentionally as byproducts by means of the method of the synthesis of different PFAS and should not captured in all regulatory assessments. But, research extensively doc the presence of ultrashort-chain PFAAs in water, soil, air, and dirt. One study finds each TFA and PFPrA (perfluoropropionic acid) in ice caps in distant areas, displaying the widespread contamination current with these compounds.

Like different PFAS with lengthy chains of carbon atoms, ultrashort-chain PFAAs are very secure because of carbon-fluorine bonds. The shorter-chain compounds, nonetheless, have distinctive properties that create further threats. With elevated hydrophilicity (attraction to water) and enhanced water solubility (capability to dissolve), ultrashort-chain PFAAs inside international waterways and the ambiance are extra simply in a position to flow into and be broadly distributed. An extra danger with ultrashort-chain PFAAs contamination in water is that these properties end in ineffective elimination by typical water remedy strategies.

A study in Northern California studies that TFA concentrations in floor water elevated by a median of 6-fold between 1998 to 2021. Further analysis finds ultrashort-chain PFAAs omnipresent in groundwater all through North America, Europe, and Asia, with TFA as essentially the most detected compound. (See here, here, here, and here.)

Consuming water can also be an publicity route for ultrashort-chain PFAAs that threaten human well being. Analysis finds each tap water and bottled water contamination within the U.S. and China. (See research here, here, here, and here.) A study of mud and ingesting water samples from residential properties in Indiana, in addition to blood and urine samples of the residents, exhibits TFA because the predominant PFAS in all the samples, additionally noting the concentrations surpass these of longer-chain compounds.

Earlier scientific literature signifies PFAS can cross into the placenta and accumulate within the fetus, with a better potential for short-chain PFAS revealed in latest analysis. (See here, here, and here.) Whereas some researchers have hypothesized that ultrashort-chain PFAAs have a decrease danger of bioaccumulation in animals than compounds with longer chains, research discover proof that they accumulate inside vegetation, wildlife, and people at comparable or elevated ranges. (See research here, here, here, and here.) The presence of those compounds in meals sources all through varied trophic ranges poses a danger to each people and ecological well being.

Proving additional proof of TFA’s prevalence and subsequent well being threats, a viewpoint article in ACS ES&T Water highlights further scientific analysis. One study identifies a number of fluorinated prescribed drugs and pesticides in sewage sludge (biosolids) that remodel into TFA, which contributes to the lengthy record of sources for publicity to ultrashort-chain PFAAs.

Another study assesses TFA formation from “plant safety products” (PPP), one other title for pesticides, throughout Europe, the U.S., and China. The outcomes discover that any PPPs that comprise trifluoromethyl teams can result in substantial TFA emissions. The examine additionally finds larger ranges of TFA from groundwater monitoring knowledge that correlate with agricultural areas.

Daily News coverage of pesticide contamination in waterways highlights the latest report on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed by which PFAS are acknowledged as a contaminant of concern. The report notes, “Inside the Chesapeake Bay watershed, PFAS have been detected in each smallmouth bass plasma pattern amongst 4 various land use areas (agriculture versus developed land).” This provides to the rising physique of analysis figuring out the deleterious results of PFAS on ecosystems and particular person species, together with people.

The Each day Information additionally factors out that regardless of the proof and EPA’s personal admission of PFAS’s toxicities, the variety of merchandise containing PFAS is burgeoning uncontrolled to switch banned organochlorines, akin to DDT and methoxychlor. In 2020, fluorinated agrochemicals comprised about 9 p.c of the pesticide market, and have now reached nearly 70 p.c of newly-approved pesticides, in line with a 2025 assessment within the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

A visitor editorial piece in Archives of Toxicology additionally references the upward development in PFAS contamination, together with ultrashort-chain PFAS (US-PFAS) like TFA. The authors conclude that: “[R]egulatory companies ought to unify within the classification of US-PFAS inside the broader class of PFAS. The present omission of TFA and TFMS [trifluoromethanesulfonic acid] from the EPA PFAS definition contributes to completely different regulatory methods between Europe and the USA and hinders a unified and standardized strategy to this international rising drawback.”

The authors of the ACS ES&T Water viewpoint piece agree, saying: “Because the scientific neighborhood grapples with the challenges posed by TFA and different ultra-short-chain PFAS, there’s a rising consensus on the necessity for extra complete analysis and regulatory action… The rising issues surrounding TFA and different ultra-short-chain PFAS name for a reevaluation of our strategy to chemical regulation and environmental safety.”

The persistence and pervasiveness of those compounds are public well being and environmental threats that can’t be ignored. “As we proceed to unravel the complicated environmental destiny and potential well being impacts of TFA, it’s essential that we undertake a precautionary strategy, prioritizing analysis into safer options,” the researchers summarize.

With EPA’s failure to carry out its statutory duties to adequately shield the well being of the setting and all organisms inside it, as extensively covered by Past Pesticides, the decision to really safeguard ecosystems and public well being with the elimination of pesticides, together with all PFAS, takes on a larger urgency. As famous in a earlier Action of the Week, as a substitute of making a sophisticated workaround that won’t handle the pressing health, biodiversity, and climate crises, EPA should cancel registrations of pesticides that hurt endangered species, and all organisms together with people, and facilitate a widescale conversion to natural practices.

The holistic, systems-based natural resolution for land administration and agriculture gives quite a few health and environmental benefits. Be taught extra about the right way to take motion and have your voice heard on governmental efforts which might be dangerous to the setting and public and employee well being, enhance general pesticide use, and undermine the development of natural, sustainable, and regenerative practices and insurance policies here.

All unattributed positions and opinions on this piece are these of Past Pesticides.

Supply:

Jagani, R. et al. (2025) Trifluoroacetic Acid: An Extremely-Brief PFAS with Rising Environmental and Public Well being Issues, ACS ES&T Water. Accessible at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsestwater.5c00599.

Maerten, A. et al. (2025) Tiny molecules, huge issues: ultrashort-chain PFAS on the regulatory radar, Archives of Toxicology. Accessible at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00204-025-04126-9.

Sigmund, G. et al. (2025) Scientists’ Assertion on the Chemical Definition of PFASs, Environmental Science & Expertise Letters. Accessible at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00478.

Zhi, Y. et al. (2024) Environmental Prevalence and Biotic Concentrations of Ultrashort-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Acids: Ignored World Organofluorine Contaminants, Environmental Science & Expertise. Accessible at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c04453.