PFAS and eternal pollutants in water: “A major environmental problem” for Future Generations

François Veillerette, porte-parole de Générations futures : “Il faudrait interdire les pesticides Pfas”. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

François Veillerette is spokesperson for Générations futures, the association which measured, last winter, a record level of releases of eternal pollutants around the Solvay site in Salindres, in Gard. Future Generations also participated in the data collection of the European survey published this Monday, May 27, on the massive pollution of surface water and groundwater with TFA, derivatives of Pfas.

"We carried out the entire French part of the European study and Pauline Cervan, our toxicologist, analyzed all the data at the  #39;'European scale" : François Veillerette explains how Générations futures finds itself at the heart of a new investigation which accuses TFA of derivatives of Pfas.

A new European study shows widespread contamination of water with TFA, a derivative of Pfas, how should we analyze the results ?

Our investigation shows that there is a blind spot in the observation of water pollution by Pfas: it is pollution by TFA, which does not exist. is not sought in water pollution in France, which is in some European countries such as Germany, and which is present in considerable quantities: it is more than 98 ;% of the presence of Pfas in water. Not looking for the TFA is nonsense. TFA is largely the result of the degradation of pesticides, which are themselves Pfas.

This poses a problem which should lead to the ban on Pfas pesticides. This is a major regulatory issue: we have an almost indestructible metabolite which will continue to accumulate in the environment if we do nothing, while Germany is considering it. classify as a reproductive toxicant. We should, in the long term, and this is what we are asking for, ban Pfas pesticides.

Germany is the country most at the forefront on these issues ?

Yes, Germany looked for TFA in the environment before us. In France, there is no research in official data. These are the first analyzes to come out for France. We had already carried out analyzes in the Salindres region, in Gard, but in a different context, with the presence of an industrial site.

This last study was not carried out in an industrial context, we are in cultivation areas, upstream of large cities. This is a direct consequence of pollution by pesticides which degrade into TFA.

The Occitanie regional health agency has just released the results of a survey on Pfas in water captured and consumed from the region, how do you explain that the Salindres site is "compliant with standards" ?

The main Pfas that are found in Salindres is TFA, which is not part of the wanted Pfas list. In most official works, this research is not carried out.

If you are not looking for the TFA in Salindres, and it is not in the official list of twenty Pfas to look for, you will find almost nothing! We are the only ones to have done it. If the local authorities continue not to look for him, they will continue not to find him. While we have astronomical quantities, we think we have a world record…hellip; When we sent this information to scientists abroad, they couldn't believe it. We are at the level of milligrams per kilo, instead of nanograms. We have a million times the levels we usually have. If we see life through rose-colored glasses, everything is fine…

What do you think of the outraged reactions of elected officials, who denounced a "bashing" of the image of the territory ?

We were appalled by the reaction of a certain number of local elected officials, not all of them, fortunately, we work very well with some of them. But we sometimes think it is better to accuse the messenger rather than worry about the message.

We do not respond to this type of controversy.

"The 100 microgram standard is very incomplete"

The alert threshold of 100 micrograms seems relevant to you?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency tends to lower all of these thresholds, and says that to protect health, we must move towards zero. And in the draft European directive on analyzed water, we go down to 4.4 nanograms per liter.

Today, we should not just say that we respect the standard of 100 which is very incomplete.

The more we do research, the more we will realize that all of these products are problematic: TFA was considered safe some time ago. Today, Germany is proposing to classify it among the probable toxic products for reproduction in Europe. The doses producing effects are very, very low. In a few years we may have doses well below 100.

The problem is that the levels found in rivers are of the order of milligrams, a thousand times more than nanograms. We explode all the thresholds.

On May 30, the senators took up a text of law on the Pfas, already voted by the deputies, you have good hope of future developments?

It’is an interesting text, which has been praised. We are following the discussions and we are hopeful that France will be among the first countries to take interesting measures. We see that they will have to be strengthened quickly, with thresholds much lowered compared to 100, with the inclusion of the TFA.

Our job is to alert you to problems. The non-monitoring of TFA, a virtually indestructible substance, is one.

The half-life of TFA is 10,000 days, 27 to 28 years…

If NGOs and journalists had done nothing on the subject, I don't think politicians would have taken up it. Now, it is the political will that we need to find.

And the general public?

People are starting to understand that there is a major environmental problem.

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