About half of California waterways contaminated with Pfas, pesticide analysis finds

Around half of California waterways tested by regulators are contaminated with pesticides considered Pfas , “forever chemicals”, a new analysis of state and federal records shows, highlighting a risk in the substances’ wide use that is only beginning to come into focus. The pesticides are linked to a range of health problems, including cancer, and the review is the first to systematically check for the dangerous substances in streams and rivers, which include drinking water sources. More than half of sediment samples also showed some levels of the pesticides, which are increasingly applied to California and the nation’s food crops. The review of California department of pesticide regulation and United States geological survey data was released this week, just days before a proposal to eventually ban Pfas pesticides failed to make it through the state assembly. However, pieces of the legislation, including a moratorium on approvals of the new pesticides, passed. The findings are “alarming but not surprising”, said Varun Subramaniam, one of the report’s co-authors with the Environmental Working Group (EWG) non-profit. “It’s concerning that we’re finding these levels of Pfas pesticide … but they were applied at really high rates on produce, so it makes sense that they’re in the streams and sediment,” he said. Pfas are a class of at least 16,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. …