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Brussels

Updated Tuesday, February 27, 2024-10:42

Fruits and vegetables in the

European Union

containing traces of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have tripled in ten years, according to a study published by the

Pesticide Action Network

(PAN Europe), which calls for ban so-called "forever chemicals" in agriculture.

The analysis detected 31 PFAS-based pesticides in fruits and vegetables in the EU between 2011 and 2021.

"In 2021, fruits grown in Europe such as strawberries (37%), peaches (35%) and apricots (31%) were particularly contaminated, often containing

cocktails of three to four different PFAS

in a single fruit," PAN Europe said.

The increase in PFAS detected in a decade is 220% for EU fruit and 274% for EU vegetables, with the steepest increase recorded in apricots (+333%), peaches (+362%) and strawberries (+534%).

Within the EU, that organization identified the

Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Greece

as the main producers of foods with PFAS .

In 2021, 35% of community strawberry samples tested contained traces of PFAS.

Outside the European Union, the main exporters of fruits and vegetables with PFAS to the EU are

Costa Rica, India and South Africa

, although the analyzed samples of community imports reveal that the level is lower, with an exposure of 12% for the imported strawberries.

It is due, according to this environmental platform, to "deliberately spraying" the surface of food crops with PFAS, making "fresh fruits and vegetables a direct and systematic route of exposure for consumers."

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"Farmers are generally not aware that they are spraying 'forever pesticides' on their crops.

It is not mentioned on the label

," adds PAN Europe, which maintains that such pesticides are "absolutely unnecessary."

In the EU, 37 pesticides based on PFAS are authorized, which are a set of some 4,700 synthetic chemical agents that accumulate in humans and the environment and can cause health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, of fertility and cancer, according to the

European Environment Agency

.

Due to their water- and grease-impermeable properties, heat resistance, and high stability, these man-made substances are used in a wide variety of products, ranging from pizza boxes to electronic components. going through Teflon or cleaning products.

They are called "eternal chemicals" because they enjoy exceptional persistence.

Most of the residues detected were below the

Maximum Residue Limit (MRL)

, which according to PAN Europe "does not eliminate concerns" because that threshold is established without taking into account the effects of combined exposure to several chemicals.

The platform recalls that the EU made the commitment in 2020 to eliminate all unnecessary PFAS, but pesticides were excluded as they were considered to be already sufficiently regulated by the

EU Pesticides Law

.

The European Commission, however, has withdrawn the update of that law to reduce the use of chemical pesticides after farmers' protests and has promised to present a new proposal.

The PAN Europe study, in which other platforms such as Ecologists in Action or Friends of the Earth participate, focuses on fruits and vegetables grown in conventional agriculture (that is, non-organic) based on official pesticide residue monitoring data. in food from the Member States, which were controlled at random.