Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), which is very prevalent in tap water, is considered toxic for reproduction by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the agency said on Wednesday 10 June (see EUROPE 13649/7).
The ECHA’s Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) also considers TFA to be very persistent, very mobile and toxic, highlighting its rapid accumulation in water, the environment and the food chain. The NGO PAN Europe believes that this classification now places European and national authorities under a legal obligation to withdraw from the market PFAS pesticides that release TFA.
At present, TFA is mainly used in the agrochemical industry to manufacture pesticides or pharmaceutical products. Certain fluorinated gases used as refrigerants in air-conditioning systems or heat pumps also break down into TFA.
For its part, the Swedish NGO ChemSec points out that TFA has been on its list of substances of concern for several years and is calling on the European Commission to act “without delay” to curb contamination described as ‘systemic’.
Once the RAC opinion has been formally finalised, it will be sent to the European Commission, which will have to prepare a delegated act after validation by the expert group CARACAL (competent authorities for the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemical substances, as well as REACH restrictions and CLP classification, labelling and packaging). This would pave the way for direct regulatory consequences for PFAS used in agriculture.
Link to the opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/m9i (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)