The EPA Is Embracing PFAS Pesticides. These Are The Health Risks

The use of pesticides in agriculture has always meant managing a tricky balance—protecting the harvest and making sure essential produce gets to market, while guarding against the possibility that at least some of that produce carries toxic chemicals. This month, things got more complicated —at least as environmentalists see it.

On Nov. 18, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of the pesticide isocycloseram on golf courses, institutional settings, and decorative lawns, as well as on a host of crops, including cereal grains, dozens of types of peas and beans, tomatoes, oranges, almonds, and more. The move comes just two weeks after the agency approved another pesticide, cyclobutrifluram, for similarly wide use.

The particular problem with these pesticides is that both of them contain toxic PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. PFAS are more colloquially known as “forever chemicals,” because that pretty much describes how long they linger in the environment. While they don’t remain in the body quite as persistently, according to a 2020 study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, PFAS are present in the blood serum of 98% of Americans tested. The chemicals do get purged, principally in urine, but continued environmental exposure can steadily replace what has been eliminated.

PFAS have been linked by the EPA itself to an increased risk of a host of health effects, including decreased fertility, hypertension in pregnant people, increased risk of certain cancers (especially kidney cancer), developmental delays in children, hormonal irregularities, elevated cholesterol, reduced effectiveness of the immune system, and more.