Forever Chemicals
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are known as "forever chemicals" due to their resistance to breakdown. PFAS accumulate in our food, soil, water, and bodies and are found in pesticide ingredients and containers, food packaging, and more.
What Are Forever Chemicals?
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are an entire class of man-made chemical compounds. They are also known as “forever chemicals” because of their chemical structure which makes they break down incredibly slowly in the environment, with some lasting hundreds or thousands of years. Instead, they travel through soils and waterways, where they build up, or bioaccumulate, in plants, wildlife, and soils.
This widespread use of the chemicals has resulted in extensive PFAS contamination across the United States. As a result, PFAS can be found almost everywhere: in our food, soil, water, and our bodies.
Pesticides containing “forever chemical” PFAS ingredients are harmful to human health and wildlife alike. They are hormone disruptors and are linked to certain cancers, reproductive and developmental health effects, organ damage, liver and thyroid disease, immunosuppression, and more. Children, pregnant woman, and farmworkers who apply these chemicals are most at risk. Center for Food Safety works to protect these most vulnerable populations from PFAS contamination.
Forever Chemicals and Our Food System
PFAS chemicals possess strong carbon-fluorine bonds, rendering them highly stable and resistant to heat, oil, grease, stains, and water. Because of this, manufacturers often use these chemicals for their non-stick and water repellant properties. PFAS can be found in clothing, furniture, food packaging, cookware, cleaning products, insulation, paint, and even cosmetics.
Currently, there are around 200 pesticide ingredients that are currently registered which qualify as PFAS chemicals. PFAS chemicals have become increasingly common ingredients in pesticide products like trifludimoxazin, diflufenican, and epyrifenacil because they can make the pesticide last longer and more toxic to specific insects, microbes, or weeds. Pesticides containing PFAS are used throughout the country on crops like apples, corn, kale, spinach, strawberries, and wheat.
PFAS can also leach into pesticides from the fluorinated plastic containers these products are stored in. About 20% of pesticides are stored in these types of fluorinated plastic.
FDA-approved PFAS are a major contributor to the ever-growing issue of PFAS contamination of our bodies and environment. The chemicals are used in many food applications, including to provide water and grease resistance to paper and paperboard that comes into contact with food. They are commonly found in takeout containers, plastic bottles, disposable bowls and plates in addition to popcorn bags, pet food bags and more.
PFAS exposure is harmful. They are endocrine (hormone) disruptors and are linked to certain cancers, reproductive and developmental health effects, organ damage, liver and thyroid disease, immunosuppression, and more. The scientific evidence demonstrating harm to health, particularly children’s health, from the chemicals is overwhelming.
It is worth noting that these myriad concerns regarding PFAS impacts are not new. For decades, scientists have raised concerns about the extensive and well-documented adverse effects of PFAS. As far back as 1950, 3M’s studies showed that PFAS chemicals could build up in the general public’s blood. And by the 1960s, 3M and DuPont’s animal studies revealed that PFAS chemicals could pose health risks. However, it was not until the 1990s that EPA began investigating PFAS and the general public became aware of the health impacts PFAS pose, spurring EPA’s work to reduce PFAS contamination today.
PFAS contaminate rivers, streams, and soil throughout the country. PFAS contamination poses similar risks to wildlife as it does to human health. Because PFAS can bioaccumulate in animal tissue, exposure can spread quickly between species, or “biomagnify.” This is especially concerning to our vulnerable pollinator populations as exposure to an extremely small concentration of PFAS can stop all brood rearing, effectively killing the colony.
In 2021, Center for Food Safety, along with a group of environmental, health, and consumer organizations, formally petitioned the FDA to revoke all approvals for use of the chemicals in food and food packaging and issue a regulation banning them unless there is evidence that the use is safe.
In the same year, we sued the EPA for their approval of the PFAS containing pesticide trifludimoxazin, alleging EPA violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) by discounting impacts of spray drift and runoff to terrestrial and aquatic plants, fish, and threatened and endangered species. In 2022, the chemical giant stopped the sale of trifludimoxazin. Unfortunately, it was re-approved by the EPA in July 2026, and we are currently exploring next steps.
In January 2024, Environmental Defense Fund, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Center for Food Safety, and Environmental Working Group formally petitioned FDA to remove its approval of the use of fluorinated polyethylene as an indirect food additive.
As a result of the pressure of CFS and our allies, in February 2024, the FDA announced that all grease-proofing agents containing PFAS are no longer being sold in the U.S.
We’ve also issued a first-of-its-kind formal petition to the EPA calling on the agency to:
- Ban PFAS as pesticide ingredients
- Adopt a broad definition of PFAS chemicals that reflect the current scientific understanding of the class of chemicals
- Prohibit the use of PFAS-containing containers for pesticide storage
- Mandate reporting of PFAS contamination from pesticide registrants
- Prevent future contamination by requiring pesticide manufacturers to submit data specific to PFAS before future registrations can be approved.