Pesticides are among the sources: the PFAS compound TFA found in all blood samples.

PFAS compound TFA appears in more and more places: in Danish and Austrian groundwater, in spring water, wine, breakfast products, and now in blood samples from humans. In a new study, 110 Europeans submitted blood samples to be tested for the compound, and not a single sample was free of it. TFA - trifluoroacetic acid - is an ultra-short-chain PFAS compound suspected of harming unborn children and our reproductive ability. It is produced by certain pesticides, refrigerants, and other industrial chemicals, and therefore the Danish Environmental Protection Agency has banned 33 pesticides with active ingredients that break down into TFA. An additional five active ingredients are now being investigated, as they are also suspected of forming TFA. The NGO Pesticide Action Network Europe (Pan Europe) now strongly urges EU politicians to ban these pesticides throughout the EU. "The widespread contamination with TFA should ring alarm bells," says Angeliki Lysimachou, head of science and policy at Pan Europe, in a press release. "TFA is highly persistent, mobile, and toxic, and we know that continuous exposure at certain levels can affect human development, including in the earliest stages of life in the womb. Yet, the pollution levels continue to rise as we release TFA into the environment. It is incomprehensible that the governments of EU countries and the European Commission still fail to act swiftly to stop the use of PFAS pesticides that release TFA," she continues. Substances are widely used Unlike long-chain PFAS compounds, TFA does not tend to accumulate in human tissue, but due to its high mobility and ongoing release into the environment, humans can be repeatedly exposed through water, food, and other environmental sources. Recently, a study of groundwater in Austria showed that TFA concentrations are increasing in several locations—and the occurrence was linked to agricultural activities. Here in Denmark, the compound is also widespread in groundwater. In 2021, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency reported that the compound was found in 219 out of 247 analyzed groundwater samples, and the agency has subsequently documented that a larger group of pesticides produces TFA, which can end up in groundwater and subsequently in our drinking water. The TFA-forming pesticides have been widely used here by conventional Christmas tree producers, nurseries, and farmers. Conventional potato growers have especially relied on the PFAS pesticide fluazinam to combat fungal diseases. PFAS pesticides are also widely used across the EU, and the proportion of fruit and vegetables with residue concentrations from these agents more than tripled from 2011 to 2021. In 2023, five European countries proposed banning PFAS, but pesticides were specifically excluded from the ban. It is already prohibited to use PFAS pesticides in organic farming, as there is a general ban on synthetic pesticides. Organic products can still potentially be contaminated by substances like TFA from other sources. Also found long-chain PFAS compounds The blood test study was commissioned by the Greens group in the European Parliament (Greens/EFA) and tested the 110 Europeans for both long-chain and short-chain PFAS compounds. The test subjects had TFA in their blood at levels four to five times higher than the sum of the long-chain PFAS compounds also measured. Currently, there are no health-based reference values for TFA in human blood. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently set an acceptable daily intake (ADI) for TFA at 0.014 mg per kg of body weight, based on toxicity to the thyroid gland. According to a rough estimate in the report, an intake equal to the ADI would result in a blood concentration of 24 ng/ml, which is very close to the median concentration of 21.22 ng/ml measured in the 110 participants. However, Pan Europe notes that the ADI does not account for simultaneous exposure to many PFAS compounds. The levels of the sum of the four long-chain PFAS compounds (PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, PFNA) exceeded the safety threshold set by EFSA in 27 of the 110 participants (25%). A health effect cannot be ruled out. "This is particularly concerning for women of reproductive age (where four exceeded the threshold in this study), considering the potential harmful effects on their (future) children's developing immune systems," write researchers from the Environmental Health and Toxicology Faculty of Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands.