Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
[10][11] Many PFAS such as PFOS and PFOA pose health and environmental concerns because they are persistent organic pollutants; they were branded as "forever chemicals" in an article in The Washington Post in 2018.
[21][13][22][7] Exposure to PFAS, some of which have been classified as carcinogenic and/or as endocrine disruptors, has been linked to cancers such as kidney, prostate and testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, suboptimal antibody response / decreased immunity, decreased fertility, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, reduced infant and fetal growth and developmental issues in children, obesity, dyslipidemia (abnormally high cholesterol), and higher rates of hormone interference.
[7][23][24] The use of PFAS has been regulated internationally by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants since 2009, with some jurisdictions, such as China and the European Union, planning further reductions and phase-outs.
[26][27] The market for PFAS was estimated to be US$28 billion in 2023 and the majority are produced by 12 companies: 3M, AGC Inc., Archroma, Arkema, BASF, Bayer, Chemours, Daikin, Honeywell, Merck Group, Shandong Dongyue Chemical, and Solvay.
[39][40] In January 2025, reports stated that the cost of cleaning up toxic PFAS pollution in the UK and Europe could exceed £1.6 trillion over the next 20 years, averaging £84 billion annually.
[18] Fluorosurfactants such as PFOS, PFOA, and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) have caught the attention of regulatory agencies because of their persistence, toxicity, and widespread occurrence in the blood of general populations.
[55] Given, however, the serum elimination half-life of four to five years and widespread environmental contamination, molecules have been shown to accumulate in humans sufficiently to cause adverse health outcomes.
[78] A report in 2023 by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai linked high exposure to PFAS with a 40% decrease in the ability for a woman to have a successful pregnancy as well as hormone disruption and delayed puberty onset.
[91][92] Bioaccumulation and biomagnification of PFASs in marine species throughout the food web, particularly frequently consumed fish and shellfish, can have important impacts on human populations.
[37] In 2018, under the Presidency of Donald Trump, White House staff and the EPA pressured the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to suppress a study that showed PFASs to be even more dangerous than previously thought.
In 2017, the ABC's current affairs program Four Corners reported that the storage and use of firefighting foams containing perfluorinated surfactants at Australian Defence Force facilities around Australia had contaminated nearby water resources.
[118] Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden submitted a so-called restriction proposal based on the REACH regulation to achieve a European ban on the production, use, sale and import of PFAS.
Although in 2020 the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has reduced by more than four times the maximum tolerable limit of PFAS that can be taken through the diet, the region has not carried out new assessments or implemented concrete actions to protect the population and the agri-food and livestock sectors.
[123] A study of public water bodies ending in March 2022 showed that the sum of PFOS and PFOA concentrations exceeded 50 ng/L in 81 out of 1,133 test sites and in some cases are present at elevated levels in blood.
[128] Additionally, low-level contaminated drinking water has also been shown to be a significant exposure source of PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS and PFOS for Swedish adolescents (ages 10–21).
[161] This was after a court-created independent scientific panel—the C8 Science Panel—found a "probable link" between C8 exposure and six illnesses: kidney and testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension and high cholesterol.
[67] In October 2018, a class action suit was filed by an Ohio firefighter against several producers of fluorosurfactants, including 3M and DuPont, on behalf of all U.S. residents who may have adverse health effects from exposure to PFASs.
[167][168] As of October 2020[update], the states of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Wisconsin had enforceable drinking water standards for between two and six types of PFAS.
The six chemicals (termed by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection as PFAS6) are measured either individually or summed as a group depending on the standard; they are:[169] In 2021 California banned PFASs for use in food packaging and from infant and children's products and also required PFAS cookware in the state to carry a warning label.
[170] A program licensed and promoted by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection that provided free municipal wastewater sludge (biosolids) to farmers as fertilizer has resulted in PFAS contamination of local drinking water and farm-grown produce.
In 2018, the MDEQ's Remediation and Redevelopment Division (RRD) established cleanup criteria for groundwater used as drinking water of 70 ppt of PFOA and PFOS, individually or combined.
[175] In 2020 Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit against 17 companies, including 3M, Chemours, and DuPont, for hiding known health and environmental risks from the state and its residents.
[196] After a class action lawsuit, in 2021, the village of Hoosick Falls received a $65.25 million settlement from Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, Honeywell, 3M, and DuPont due to the disposal of PFAS chemicals into the groundwater of the local water treatment plant.
[216][217] PFOA and PFOS levels have declined in U.S. and European fluorochemical workers due to improved facilities, increased usage of personal protective equipment, and the discontinuation of these chemicals from production.
[219][220][221] PFASs are commonly used in Class B firefighting foams due to their hydrophobic and lipophobic properties, as well as the stability of the chemicals when exposed to high heat.
A 2015 cross-sectional study conducted in Australia found that PFOS and PFHxS accumulation was positively associated with years of occupational AFFF exposure through firefighting.
The hydrophobic tail of many long-chain criteria PFAS compounds adhere to this interface and rise to the water surface with the air bubble where they present as a foam for harvesting and further concentration.
Boron-doped diamond electrodes are used for the electrochemical oxidation system where it is capable of breaking PFAS molecular bonds which essentially eliminates the contaminates, leaving fresh water.
[241] Researchers at the University of Missouri demonstrated in small scale the degradation of PFAS chemicals can be done using readily available Activated Carbon at significantly lower temperatures that previously needed, 300C as opposed to 700C.
[246] EPA Method 1633 is undergoing review for use in wastewater, surface water, groundwater, soil, biosolids, sediment, landfill leachate, and fish tissue for 40 PFAS, but is currently being used by many laboratories in the United States.
