An alarming new study has exposed the widespread use of toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—known as “forever chemicals”—on California farms. This lack of accountability comes at a steep price. A class of at least 16,000 synthetic chemicals have been widely used as a pesticide on cropland statewide. Between 2018 and 2023, farmers applied an average of 2.5 million pounds of these pesticides annually. The cumulative PFAS application during this period amounts to about 15 million lbs.
PFAS are widely used in countless applications because of their unique properties to repel water, stains, and heat. Their environmental persistence poses significant risks. Once exposed to the environment, PFAS can take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose. This is a dangerous precedent for agricultural practices. It endangers drinking water supplies, particularly in counties such as Fresno, Kern, San Joaquin, Napa, and Riverside, where the presence of these chemicals in drinking water is reaching dangerous levels.
As advocates like Beyond Pesticides continue to warn, the presence of PFAS poses severe risks. It’s their concerns that have led to unprecedented scrutiny over these substances. PFAS aren’t mentioned only in state bills. PFAS are now used in over 60% of the active ingredients for pesticides commonly used on a national level. This is consistent with the public’s most favored definition of these substances. This trend has snowballed as the count of PFAS the pesticide industry wants to use in pesticides has multiplied. These changes took place under the Trump administration.
Concerns are especially acute for low-income and Latino farmworkers, who have higher exposure risks. David Andrews, a co-author of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) report, emphasized the significance of these findings, stating, “There’s a contribution to our total PFAS exposure and there’s a lot of uncertainty.”
Most recently, the Biden administration EPA has been heavily criticized for its approach to studies that have found PFAS in pesticides. From the start, Docs report that the agency worked to undermine the credibility of researchers. They further misled the public by downplaying the existence of these carcinogenic chemicals in agricultural products. Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice-president of California for EWG, articulated her concerns: “The review’s findings reveal an obvious problem.”
Awareness of PFAS’s detrimental effects on agriculture is growing. The public and other stakeholders are increasingly calling for tougher rules and greater accountability from regulatory agencies. Toxics advocates have been raising the alarm about PFAS in pesticides since the beginning of 2023. The conversation around these chemicals is always changing.