BACKGROUND Environmental contamination by fluorinated chemicals, in particular chemicals from the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) class, has raised concerns around the globe because of documented adverse impacts on human health, wildlife, and ecosystem quality. Recent studies have indicated that pesticide products may contain a variety of chemicals that meet the PFAS definition, including the active pesticide ingredients themselves. Given that pesticides are some of the most widely distributed pollutants across the world, the legacy impacts of PFAS addition into pesticide products could be widespread and have wide-ranging implications on agriculture and food and water contamination, as well as the presence of PFAS in rural environments. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this commentary is to explore different ways that PFAS can be introduced into pesticide products, the extent of PFAS contamination of pesticide products, and the implications this could have for human and environmental health. METHODS We submitted multiple public records requests to state and federal agencies in the United States and Canada and extracted relevant data from those records. We also compiled data from publicly accessible databases for our analyses. DISCUSSION We found that the biggest contributor to PFAS in pesticide products was active ingredients and their degradates. Nearly a quarter of all US conventional pesticide active ingredients were organofluorines and 14% were PFAS, and for active ingredients approved in the last 10 y, this had increased to 61% organofluorines and 30% PFAS. Another major contributing source was through PFAS leaching from fluorinated containers into pesticide products. Fluorination of adjuvant products and "inert" ingredients appeared to be limited, although this represents a major knowledge gap. We explored aspects of immunotoxicity, persistence, water contamination, and total fluorine load in the environment and conclude that the recent trend of using fluorinated active ingredients in pesticides may be having effects on chemical toxicity and persistence that are not given adequate oversight in the United States. We recommend a more stringent risk assessment approach for fluorinated pesticides, transparent disclosure of "inert" ingredients on pesticide labels, a complete phase-out of post-mold fluorination of plastic containers, and greater monitoring in the United States. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13954.

中文翻译：

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永远的杀虫剂：环境中日益增长的 PFAS 污染源。


背景技术由于有记录的对人类健康、野生动物和生态系统质量的不利影响，氟化化学品、特别是来自全氟烷基物质和多氟烷基物质(PFAS)类的化学品的环境污染已经在全球范围内引起关注。最近的研究表明，农药产品可能含有多种符合 PFAS 定义的化学物质，包括活性农药成分本身。鉴于农药是世界上分布最广泛的污染物之一，农药产品中添加 PFAS 的遗留影响可能很广泛，并对农业、食品和水污染以及农村地区的 PFAS 产生广泛影响。环境。目标 本评论的目的是探讨将 PFAS 引入农药产品的不同方式、PFAS 对农药产品的污染程度以及这可能对人类和环境健康产生的影响。方法 我们向美国和加拿大的州和联邦机构提交了多项公共记录请求，并从这些记录中提取了相关数据。我们还从可公开访问的数据库中收集数据进行分析。讨论 我们发现农药产品中 PFAS 的最大贡献者是活性成分及其降解物。美国所有传统农药活性成分中近四分之一是有机氟，14% 是 PFAS，而在过去 10 年批准的活性成分中，这一比例已增加至 61% 有机氟和 30% PFAS。另一个主要来源是 PFAS 从氟化容器中浸出到农药产品中。 佐剂产品和“惰性”成分的氟化似乎是有限的，尽管这是一个重大的知识差距。我们探讨了环境中的免疫毒性、持久性、水污染和总氟负荷等方面，并得出结论，农药中使用氟化活性成分的最新趋势可能会对化学毒性和持久性产生影响，而美国没有给予足够的监督。我们建议对氟化农药采取更严格的风险评估方法，在农药标签上透明地披露“惰性”成分，完全淘汰塑料容器成型后氟化，并在美国加强监管。 https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13954。