TFA comes from the degradation of one of the most used herbicides in France, flufenacet.
More than one in two French people affected
According to revelations from Le Monde made on Tuesday, November 12, a majority of French people could be exposed to water with non-compliant quality criteria due to the presence of a molecule, trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), an eternal pollutant from a pesticide (used in particular in the cultivation of wheat and barley), flufenacet… in the event of regulatory surveillance of the TFA.
According to a press release from Générations Futures published on November 12, 2024, a French association approved by the Ministry of Ecology and recognized as being of general interest which supports sustainable agriculture, this is the ninth most used herbicide in France although that his “authorization at European level expired on December 31, 2013”. The association calls for the immediate withdrawal of all flufenacet-based products.
“Flufenacet is a symbol of the flaws in our pesticide authorization system. After eleven years of inaction in the face of risks to health and the environment, it is urgent to ban its use and withdraw the products concerned to finally protect our water resources and our health. The use of these products is a threat that we can no longer ignore,” explains the association's spokesperson, François Veillerette.
Ban this herbicide to limit TFA urgently
On September 27, 2024, flufenacet was recognized as an endocrine disruptor by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and therefore potentially dangerous in drinking water. From there, the water could be considered undrinkable if the TFA concentration threshold exceeds 0.1 microgram per liter in view of the procedure established by ANSES.
However, according to drinking water samples in around ten European Union countries carried out by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe, in France, three out of four water samples exceed the compliance limit. ANSES modeling shows that the concentration of TFA in water could be 100 times higher than the limit. PAN Europe therefore asks the European Commission to ban this herbicide as quickly as possible.
The (big) problem with eternal pollutants
TFA is part of the PFAS family. According to a definition from the National Health Safety Agency (ANSES), PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkylated, are “chemical substances whose specific properties are used in many everyday products”. They “represent a vast family of several thousand chemical compounds” And “can expose populations through the air, food and drinking water, or even the use of different products and everyday objects”.
Concretely, they are found in certain food packaging, in certain cosmetic products, in fire-fighting foams and other refrigerant gases… they also pollute the environment and contaminate water, air, soil and even sediments. Scientific work shows that they can have very harmful effects on human health: “increased cholesterol levels, cancers, effects on fertility and fetal development, on the liver, on the kidneys, etc.”.
At the international and European level, several actions and directives are being carried out to limit and regulate the use of these pollutants. In the meantime, ANSES is carrying out work to “understand the uses, sources of exposure and toxicity of these compounds” but also for “establish an inventory of the presence of PFAS in water resources and in water intended for human consumption” among others.
Source: Libération
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