Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as "forever chemicals", can persist in the environment and bioaccumulate in animals, humans, and plants. These chemicals can be a threat to human health.
What are Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances?
Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is a class of man-made chemicals that have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe, including in the United States, since the 1940s. The chemicals are categorized as "forever chemicals" because they bioaccumulate in animals and plants and do not breakdown naturally in the animals or plants or in the environment. These chemicals are causing major challenges to our food producers, who need innovative scientific solutions to detect, identify, and reduce the presence of these dangerous chemicals on our farms, ranches, waterways, and in our food.
PFAS have become increasingly found in the environment, posing significant challenges for producers, and farming communities, highlighting the need for agricultural researchers to develop innovative and practical solutions.
Many within the agricultural community are facing new challenges when PFAS chemicals are detected within their farms, resulting in this being a new challenge to farmers’ continued capacity to sustain healthy soil and water on their farms, as well as continued capacity to provide safe and dependable food and fiber supplies to our nation and the world. The suggested long-term roadmap solutions for improving these circumstances include finding new means of detecting when PFAS contamination is a problem, better understanding of how it moves through the agricultural system and innovating new ways to interrupt that movement or remove the chemicals before they can do harm.
ARS continues to expand its PFAS research to address its impact on U.S. agriculture. Our research portfolio on PFAS includes finding new means of detecting when PFAS contamination is a problem, better understanding how these chemicals move through agricultural systems, and innovating new ways to interrupt that movement or remove the chemicals before they can do harm. Our research and collaboration with the agricultural industry is vital to ensuring that our nation maintains a safe and abundant high quality food supply while being good stewards of the environment.
