PFAS – Eternal skiing chemicals stressed drinking water

The fabric of trifluoro vacet acid (TFA) was already noticed in this country in 2016 when it was detected in drinking water in the Neckar region. Trifluoric acoric acid is a dismantling product of PFAs, especially pesticides and F-gases containing Pfas, and is found in high concentration in drinking water. Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) include more than 10,000 synthetic chemicals. Many PFAs come from products such as coolants, coated pans or packaging. They accumulate in floors and water, where they survive for a long time.

The concentrations of TFA in the environment and food have been increasing for years. It is particularly worrying that TFA can no longer be removed from the water using conventional methods. In addition, demonstrably determined fluorinated greenhouse gases are completely broken down into TFA in the atmosphere.

As a nationwide test of tap water shows, the values ​​are largely below one microgram per liter, but in Dresden at 1.3 µg/l, in Kevelaer (NRW) even at 2.4 µg/l. And while in mineral waters Gerolsteiner and Sprequell showed relatively low values ​​with 0.1 and 0.2 µg/l, a TFA value of 1.8 µg/l was measured in the silent Aqua Mia. This water does not correspond to the expectations of consumers, explains Ulrich Borchers from the Institute for Water Analytics.

In the Oberrhein region, the TFA concentrations have doubled in rehearsals from private households and public institutions in the Rhine since 2016. This is the result of a test by the Wassenwerke Bodensee-Rhein waterworks.

TFA cannot be removed from the water with conventional methods.

However, there is no binding EU limit value, but a “conductor” that the countries set themselves: in Germany it is 60 µg/l, in Switzerland at 10 µg/l, in the Netherlands at 2.2 µg/l.

While wines were still free from TFA until the 1970s, increasing stress has been found since the 1980s. The new wines contain extremely high TFA content. The pharmaceutical chemist Michael Müller Research the burden of TFA based on historical wine tasting at the University of Freiburg. According to him, the values ​​have increased rapidly since 2010. In individual samples, concentrations of up to 300 micrograms per liter were found. The value has become tenfold within 15 years.

Of the 48 various foods that tested the environmental organization Global 2000, all were burdened with TFA. Conventional were three times higher values ​​than organic products. In a biscuit, even 420 µg/kg were detected-this corresponds to the 100 to 1000 times the TFA values ​​in the drinking water. The high TFA concentrations in the soil come mainly from pesticides containing Pfas, the environmental chemist Helmut Burtscher damage, who works for Global 2000. He calls for a quick ban on all those substances that dismantle to TFA in the environment.

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The Federal Office for Risk Assessment (BfR) classifies TFA as a reproductive endangering and the Federal Environment Agency rates the material as very durable and mobile. A year ago, Germany applied for the classification of TFA to the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) as “reproductive oxic”. If the application is granted, TFA could be classified as the “relevant metabolite” of active ingredients of pesticides. In this case, according to the drinking water regulation, the load with TFA should not exceed the limit of 0.1 µg/l.

With regard to TFA, the scientific committee for risk assessment (RAC) of ECHA discusses the dossier of the German authorities and will be handed over to the EU Commission by the end of 2026, which draws up a corresponding draft of the regulation.

The German Environmental Aid (DUH), meanwhile, calls on the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) to take all TFA-forming pesticides off the market as quickly as possible. For three such products, the DUH applied for the revocation of admission to the BVL on Monday. In Denmark, 23 pesticides were recently banned because they form TFA.