A new national study concludes that PFAS chemicals are getting into pesticides in a variety of ways, as active and inert ingredients, but also leaching from containers and other unknown sources.
The study, published this week in Environmental Health Perspectives, found a variety of PFAS present in pesticides, including PFOA and PFOS, two of the most toxic PFAS.
Sarah Woodbury with Defend Our Health said the findings are disappointing, given that pesticides are not just used in agriculture, but also in forests and gardens.
"Having a PFAS added to those products is just increasing the PFAS contamination across the state when we've been actively working to try to lessen the impact of that and pass policies to protect people from exposure," she said.
Woodbury said the slow response to PFAS concerns from federal regulators is especially frustrating, as states like Maine try to be proactive in addressing contamination.
The paper also found that PFAS chemicals make up 14% of active ingredients in U.S. pesticides, and nearly 30% of all active ingredients approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in the last ten years.
Woodbury said it's frustrating to see federal regulators try to address PFAS contamination one chemical at a time, in one industry at a time.
"But they need to be looking at it as a class," she said. "And if they're regulating it and, and spending money because it's a contaminant in drinking water in one area, then they should not be approving its use in another area."
