California will start labeling pesticides that contain “forever chemical” perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS, in its public use-reporting database after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a scaled-back bill this week.
The legislation, signed on Sept. 27, will force the state agriculture department to start labeling PFAS-containing pesticides in its public use-reporting database by Jan. 1, 2028, or as soon as 2026 data goes online, whichever comes first.
PFAS are increasingly used as pesticide active ingredients, according to a 2024 review in Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal supported by NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
The Sunshine State is the country’s largest producer of agricultural products—crops and livestock—accounting for almost 11 percent of the national total, according to a 202 report from the Department of Agriculture.
California’s Central Valley, including the San Joaquin Valley, is often called a “breadbasket of the world” because it produces a massive share of the United States’ and the globe’s fruit, nut, and vegetable supply. California’s share of total U.S. agricultural exports for 2024 was 13.5 percent, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The legislature declared that PFAS substances are a class of “persistent and highly toxic chemicals with widespread contamination” across the United States, including California.
It also said that an estimated 98 percent of people living in the United States have PFAS in their blood and that state water testing data indicates that PFAS have been detected in the drinking water of 25 million Californians.
“This will give the state the opportunity to start analyzing what’s being used, applied where, and how to move forward to get rid of it,” said Monica Amarelo, vice president of media relations at the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group that supported the legislation.
An earlier version of the bill, which was introduced by Assemblymember Nick Schultz of Burbank, prohibited state regulators from approving new pesticides containing PFAS chemicals.
But some farm groups opposed it.
Western Plant Health association president and CEO Renee Pinel told Chemical & Engineering News in June in June that the bill “designates safe general-use products as restricted-use pesticides … and has no basis in science.”
Pinel called Schultz’s earlier version of the bill “catastrophic” to the state’s agriculture industry.
Research and Lawsuits
A 2024 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute involving 400 Finnish mother-child pairs found that higher prenatal exposure to certain “forever chemicals” was associated with increased odds of childhood leukemia.
Products that can contain PFAS include cookware with nonstick coatings and textiles and fabrics that are water- and stain-resistant, such as outdoor clothing, carpets, upholstery, and furniture with water-repellent finishes.
A 2016 study published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found evidence that chemicals in the PFAS family could disrupt the human immune system.
“The evidence that these chemicals affect multiple aspects of the immune system supports the overall conclusion that both PFOA and PFOS alter immune functions in humans,” the National Institutes of Health website states.
PFAS can be destroyed, but only under a tight process. According to a UK Environment Agency review, high temperature incineration under strict conditions is the only option that can destroy PFAS at scale.
A federal judge last month approved more than $2.5 billion in settlements between New Jersey and DuPont, Chemours, Corteva, and 3M over PFAS “forever chemical” contamination at four industrial sites across the state.
In a court ruling released on Aug. 7, Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey said the settlements, filed in 2019 and reached last year, were an “impressive windfall.”
DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva will pay $875 million over 25 years for natural resources and other damages, clean up four former industrial sites, and create a $1.2 billion remediation fund. The company 3M will pay up to $450 million over the same period.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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