ClientEarth Communications
14th January 2025
PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of more than 14,000 synthetic (man-made) chemicals resistant to heat, water, oil, and grease.
Their molecules have a chain of linked carbon and fluorine atoms, which is one of the strongest chemical bonds in organic chemistry. It’s this almost unbreakable bond that makes PFAS so stable (heat-resistant, etc.), but it also means PFAS stick around for decades. In fact, they are so impossible to break down, they accumulate in the environment, and in people’s bodies, in ever greater amounts. As such, they are also often referred to as ‘forever chemicals’.
They are derived from petrochemicals, which are made from fossil fuels, specifically oil and gas.
PFAS are considered useful primarily due to their durability, and properties such as being non-stick, and water and grease repellent. This means they can be found in a number of everyday products, including frying pans and baking equipment, outdoor clothing and shoes, many cosmetics, fabric and textiles, and food packaging.
They are also used readily on an industrial scale, in aerospace and automotive sectors, construction, electronics, biotechnology, energy production, pharmaceuticals, textile and building material production, and countless others. You can find PFAS in the foam used to fight fires, for example. Put simply, PFAS are everywhere.
Scientific studies have identified a number of health concerns resulting from the use of PFAS. As research evolves, there is growing and robust evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to:
Certain reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or higher blood pressure in pregnant women.
Developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes.
A higher risk of certain cancers, including prostate, breast, kidney, and testicular.
Immune system suppression, meaning it becomes harder for the body to fight infections. This also leads to reduced responses to vaccines.
Interference with the body’s natural hormones and disruption of the body’s endocrine system.
Higher cholesterol levels and/or risk of obesity.
Due to the sheer number of different types of PFAS, all of which have varying potential effects and toxicity levels, the full gamut of health effects resulting from exposure to PFAS is likely to be underestimated. Plus, studies as of yet have been focusing on only a small number of them.
People can also be exposed to PFAS in many different ways, and at various stages of life. Added to this is the fact that different types and uses of PFAS are changing all the time, increasing the number of pathways through which people can be contaminated and affected.
There’s also the issue of the ‘cocktail effect’ i.e. people are exposed to mixtures of different chemicals, including PFAS, which can add to both the severity and extent of harm to health.
What is clear is that many EU experts recognise that the wider PFAS family poses sufficient risks to health to justify exploring a full ban, especially as their concentrations rise in people’s bodies.
The fact that PFAS have been shown to lead to negative health effects is especially worrying given their prevalence, their longevity, and how much we are all exposed to them in various different ways, every day. Studies have found PFAS present in people’s blood and urine, for example.
In addition to our use of the everyday items that contain PFAS, we are being exposed to them in many other ways simply by living our lives. PFAS can be found in our drinking water, in the food we eat, in the air or in soil.
There are some people who will be more exposed to PFAS than others, for example people who work with materials or equipment containing PFAS. Children are especially exposed, as they ingest more water and food, and breathe more air per kilogram of body weight than adults.
Younger children are also exposed to more PFAS through crawling on the floor and putting non-edible items in their mouths. This is a particular problem because children are also more vulnerable to the negative effects of PFAS, as their immune system is still developing.
High concentrations of PFAS in pregnant women can also harm foetal development.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are two of the most commonly used and studied types of PFAS. These types have the useful properties of high stability and low surface tension, and so have been used extensively in products ranging from cookware and paper food packaging to personal care products, carpeting and firefighting foam.
PFOA makes products non-stick, water resistant and stain resistant, can be found in products containing things like Gore-Tex® and Teflon®, and in anti-aging cosmetics, dental floss and even bike oil. It’s also a common contaminant in drinking water.
PFOS is used primarily to make products stain resistant and as a fabric protector. PFOSA (Perfluorooctane sulfonamide) is a PFAS compound that breaks down to PFOS in the environment.
Due to these properties, PFOA and PFOS do not break down at all easily. They are readily found in high volumes in soil, sediment, sludge, and biota, as well as in aquatic environments.
As damaging as PFAS are, their unique non-stick and other properties mean that they can be found in a large number of everyday products. But alternatives to most of the ways in which PFAS are used do exist, or are being developed, so we needn’t be reliant on them.
Despite their risks, only a handful of PFAS are regulated worldwide. PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS have been banned under the Stockholm Convention for Persistent Organic Pollutants, otherwise known as POPs, or the Stockholm Convention. This status expressly recognises their toxic and bio-accumulative properties, and resistance to natural breakdown.
We believe we need to go much, much further than this. There are a number of things we want to see when it comes to PFAS:
Greater transparency for all. Companies need to give consumers and investors alike much clearer and more accessible information about the potential harms of PFAS, as well as which products contain PFAS. This also goes for authorities, who also need to have clear information on PFAS shared with them by companies.
A universal ban on PFAS. In Europe, a universal ban on PFAS is currently under assessment by the European Chemicals Agency. We believe that it must be adopted as soon as possible and with the most protective scope as possible, but companies who have a vested interest in PFAS not being further regulated are massively lobbying against it. Regulators must go ahead with the strongest form of ban, despite the lobbying.
Companies and governments to prioritise meeting the true cost to society of PFAS. The wider societal cost of continued use of toxic chemicals largely exceeds its benefits: for example, the cost of cleaning PFAS contamination in Europe if emissions remain unrestricted is estimated to be €2 trillion over a 20-year period, with an annual bill of €100 billion. And this does not even touch on the health-related costs – for Europe, human exposure to PFAS has been estimated to cost €52-84 billion in annual health costs. This must be taken seriously.
The link between fossil fuels and PFAS to be more widely understood and taken into account. Around 99% of petrochemicals are fossil-fuel derived, including PFAS. The petrochemical sector (which produces PFAS) is the largest industrial consumer of fossil fuels, the third largest industrial emitter of GHG emissions. The fossil fuel and chemicals industries are kept going by the same people, and we need to stop this if we are to limit the effects of climate change.
The risks to investors that PFAS pose need to be more widely known and considered. PFAS pose financial risks to investors in companies that use them for a number of reasons. If this was more widely understood and taken into account, there would more than likely be divestment from PFAS.
Chemours had been challenging the European chemicals watchdog over its decision to include a group of harmful PFAS chemicals on the EU’s list of substances of ‘very high concern’.
We intervened in this case to support ECHA in Chemours’ case against them, alongside our partner CHEM Trust. The judge upheld that these PFAS chemicals, known as ‘Gen X’, should be on the list of substances of very high concern. Chemours appealed this decision, but their appeal was dismissed in 2023.
The current version of EU’s main law on chemicals – known as ‘REACH’ – is inadequate to deal with the reality of chemical pollution. It was due to be reformed in 2023, but this was delayed. We are letting authorities know what we want to see from the reform, including a deadline for phasing out hazardous chemicals, greater transparency around them, their use to be as contained and restricted as possible and for victims of chemical pollution to have better access to justice.
The European Chemicals Agency is currently assessing a universal ban on PFAS. We believe that the strongest form of ban must be adopted as soon as possible, and we’re advocating for this.
Companies need to proactively manage their growing exposure to financial, transition and liability risks associated with PFAS. This means being transparent about what PFAS they produce, where, and in what kinds of products their PFAS ends up. In view of the proposed PFAS restriction, company boards should also be carefully considering – and communicate clearly about – whether or not they have a plan to phase down unnecessary and harmful PFAS production