A new study has found PFAS contamination so alarming that European wines are now in question. This troubling discovery should give everyone pause about one of the most consumed types of beverages. This study, carried out by researchers at Global 2000, showed that wine production is one of the biggest users of pesticides in European agriculture. This intense use of pesticides comes with significant health and environmental impacts.
She chose to compare 49 different wines (conventional and organic from the same producers). It did show a concerning rise in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a long-lasting byproduct of PFAS. Since 1988, TFA levels have increased exponentially, with concentrations as high as 320 micrograms per liter in recent vintages. This figure is more than 3,000 times the legal limit for pesticide residues in groundwater. In the European Union, these numbers are nothing short of disgraceful.
Grapes are some of the most vulnerable to fungal diseases, demanding multiple rounds of pesticides, including some PFAS compounds. Further research funded by the USDA confirmed that wines harvested prior to 1988 contained no detectable levels of TFA. This means that there’s a direct connection between the rapid growth of PFAS-based pesticides and the rise in contamination. Notably, some wine bottles displayed TFA concentrations up to 100 times higher than what is typically found in drinking water.
From Global 2000, Helmut Burtscher-Schaden directed the research. He called their findings “a big, screaming red flag that you cannot ignore.” He emphasized the urgency of addressing this issue, stating, “The more we delay, the worse the contamination becomes. Because we’re dealing with a forever chemical, every year of inaction locks in the damage for generations to come.”
European lawmakers preparing to vote on a ban of the PFAS pesticide flutolanil. We are calling on them to act boldly and with great urgency. Salomé Roynel, policy officer at PAN Europe, remarked that this vote represents a critical test of policymakers’ commitment to tackling the growing issue of pesticide contamination in agriculture.
Dr. Michael Müller, an environmental policy specialist at the University of Potsdam, said he was shocked to learn about the global ramifications of PFAS contamination. “This is not a local issue; it’s a global one,” he stated. Perhaps the most striking claim made by Müller was to push back on the extremely common narrative that PFAS-based pesticides are essential to agricultural production – alternatives are out there.
“There are substitutes. The idea that these chemicals are essential is simply not true.” – Michael Müller
The study’s results align with earlier findings indicating that TFA exposure may cause drastic malformations in rabbit fetuses. A 2021 industry-funded study found a disturbing connection under the EU’s REACH chemicals regulation. Regulators responded by proposing to classify TFA as “toxic to reproduction.”
The increasing prevalence of TFA contamination in wines underscores a key point. They are tangible representations of the still-waging war against PFAS pollution. Because these chemicals are long-lasting in the environment and bioaccumulative, their health risks keep increasing.
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