Urgency of regulating trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and phasing out PFAS pesticides to safeguard water resilience and public health in the EU

Question for written answer E-001786/2025 to the Commission Rule 144 Cristina Guarda (Verts/ALE), Sigrid Friis (Renew), Heléne Fritzon (S&D) Subject: Urgency of regulating trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and phasing out PFAS pesticides to safeguard water resilience and public health in the EU Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), an ultrashort perand polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) and a degradation product of several PFAS chemicals, has emerged as a significant yet largely overlooked contaminant in European water sources. TFA pollution is extensive, with concentrations several orders of magnitude higher than those of other PFAS pollutants, including in drinking water, throughout Europe. Given TFA’s persistence and mobility in the water cycle and considering recent evidence about its toxicity potential to human reproduction1, its accumulation poses a significant challenge to water resilience and public health. Recent scientific warnings have identified TFA as a planetary boundary threat due to the increasing global exposure and the potential for irreversible impacts2. According to recent scientific findings, the use of PFAS pesticides is a major source of TFA in the environment3. Currently, more than 30 PFAS pesticide substances are approved for agricultural use in the EU, contaminating our food and water resources with TFA. Fifty Members of the European Parliament have written to the Commission, urging it to ban all PFAS pesticides. As the Water Resilience Strategy is being...