>European rivers and groundwater reserves are massively contaminated with trifluoroacetic acid, an unregulated ultra-short-chain PFAS. This is once again demonstrated by new research by environmental associations PAN Europe and GLOBAL 2000. The German Environment Agency points to the use of some pesticides as the main cause. In the meantime, unlike our northern neighbors, Flanders has no idea of the extent to which drinking water is also contaminated with the substance.
>PFAS from pesticides
>The average concentration of TFA in surface water (1,220 nanograms per liter) was only slightly higher than that in groundwater (1,025 nanograms per liter), the environmental associations noted. This should not be surprising: TFA dissolves easily in water. When water contaminated with TFA seeps into the ground, that TFA is not filtered through the soil and eventually ends up in the groundwater.
>PAN Europe is not the first to sound the alarm. “Never before have we seen a chemical accumulate so quickly in our tap water, in the food we eat, in plants, trees and in the sea,” said researcher Hans Peter Arp (University of Science and Technology in Norway) early May in an article by The Guardian about the growing number of studies showing that TFA concentrations are rising at an accelerating rate around the world.
>PAN-Europe and GLOBAL 2000 point to the use of some pesticides in agriculture as the culprit for TFA pollution
>While in Flanders we mainly associate the PFAS problem with industrial pollution, PAN-Europe and GLOBAL 2000 point an accusing finger at the use of some pesticides in agriculture.
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>European rivers and groundwater reserves are massively contaminated with trifluoroacetic acid, an unregulated ultra-short-chain PFAS. This is once again demonstrated by new research by environmental associations PAN Europe and GLOBAL 2000. The German Environment Agency points to the use of some pesticides as the main cause. In the meantime, unlike our northern neighbors, Flanders has no idea of the extent to which drinking water is also contaminated with the substance.
>PFAS from pesticides
>The average concentration of TFA in surface water (1,220 nanograms per liter) was only slightly higher than that in groundwater (1,025 nanograms per liter), the environmental associations noted. This should not be surprising: TFA dissolves easily in water. When water contaminated with TFA seeps into the ground, that TFA is not filtered through the soil and eventually ends up in the groundwater.
>PAN Europe is not the first to sound the alarm. “Never before have we seen a chemical accumulate so quickly in our tap water, in the food we eat, in plants, trees and in the sea,” said researcher Hans Peter Arp (University of Science and Technology in Norway) early May in an article by The Guardian about the growing number of studies showing that TFA concentrations are rising at an accelerating rate around the world.
>PAN-Europe and GLOBAL 2000 point to the use of some pesticides in agriculture as the culprit for TFA pollution
>While in Flanders we mainly associate the PFAS problem with industrial pollution, PAN-Europe and GLOBAL 2000 point an accusing finger at the use of some pesticides in agriculture.