New survey shows high levels of pfas in wine
« We see an explosive increase during especially the last ten years, » says Elin Engdahl, expert on environmental toxins at the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.
Together with ten other countries within the umbrella organization Pan Europe (Pesticide Action Network Europe), the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has examined the content of the PFAS subject TFA in 49 wines from different European countries.
TFA is one of the leasts within the large group of artificial PFAS topics and has long been considered more or less harmless. Nowadays, it is classified as toxic to aquatic organisms and animal studies indicate that TFA can increase the risk of, among other things, birth defects and liver damage.
– Our survey shows high levels of TFA in all wines except the oldest. Before 1988 we see nothing. But after 2020 we find levels from 21,000 nanograms per liter up to 320,000 nanograms. It’s scary, says Elin Engdahl.
So far There is no common EU legislation for TFA in drinking water and food. But for example, the Netherlands has, on their own, introduced a health -based benchmark for drinking water of 2,200 nanograms per liter.
– It is obviously difficult to compare, because you should not drink wine as drinking water. But it can be stated that we look very high and increasing values, and we know that it is a substance with potentially harmful properties. It worries me, says Elin Engdahl.
When larger PFAS molecules are broken down into smaller pieces, TFA remains as an extremely long-lived residual product. A large source is the types of refrigerant used in, for example, refrigerators, air conditioning systems and air heat pumps. Another important source is various pesticides used in agriculture and forestry.
Ioannis Liagkouridis, who is a researcher and expert on PFAS at the Swedish Environmental Institute IVL, believes that the environmental groups’ survey is in line with many other studies on the existence of TFA in the environment.
– This is in good agreement with what we see in other surveys. TFA is available today all over the planet. We have found high concentrations in water, in soil, in plants and there are also studies on blood in humans.
Because TFA cannot Break down naturally, the levels in the environment are constantly increasing as the PFAS emissions continue, he explains. Unlike many other long -lived environmental toxins, TFA is water -soluble and can thus follow the water cycle and accumulate in the environment, so that living organisms are exposed to an increasing extent.
– We have seen that many plants take up TFA with the roots so that the concentration can be 10,000 times higher than in the soil, or the water with which you water. It may be an explanation for the high concentration in the wines, says Ioannis Liagkouridis.
How to relate to this as a regular citizen and consumer?
– Unfortunately, there is no good solution for removing TFA from nature once it has come out. So it’s about stopping using PFAS and finding alternatives, says Ioannis Liagkouridis.
Elin Engdahl agrees.
– It is now that we decide how the food and water of the future should be. We must put pressure on our decision makers so that the use of all PFAS is prohibited, including pesticides containing PFAS. There is an EU proposal that is being negotiated right now, but it is being watered down so that it only covers a small part of all the PFAS used, she says.
Read more:
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