PFAS
- RESEARCH 2026 -
- Chemical industry - systemic failure by design
- EU with focus on the Netherlands
What are PFAS?
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
are 10.000+ of human-made chemicals
used in many products ranging
from non-stick cookware, to yoga mats
to firefighting foams and industrial manufacturing.
They are often called "forever chemicals" because they do not naturally break down and can remain in the environment and the human body for a long time. Growing scientific evidence has linked exposure to certain PFAS with a range of serious health conditions, including several types of cancer cancer, infertility, liver disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes, autism, ADHD.
There are thousands of PFAS, and very few have been thoroughly studied. Evidence shows that PFAS can attack our immune system. They disturb our hormone system and can cause developmental effects in babies and children.
What are PFOA, PFOS and TFA ?
"The toxicity of TFA is now beyond dispute. Every year of delay means more pollution that future generations will have to live with. The pesticides law is clear: Policymakers at EU and Member State level are now legally obliged to ban all PFAS pesticides and TFA-emitting substances - without delay," Salomé Roynel, Policy Officer at PAN Europe.
The script in the PFAS story is written by the Polluters.
The EU’s approach to PFAS is a textbook example of this illusion of action replacing the urgency of justice. While scientists scream from the rooftops about PFAS as a ‘forever chemical’ crisis, and governments scramble to ban its use, corporations and regulators engage in a theater of disclosure: a few vague sentences in a 200-page report, a single mention in a glossary, or a risk footnote buried on page 112.
The CSRD and NFRD frameworks, which say that companies must report their environmental harm are designed to hold companies accountable. But they have become loophole factories, where ‘materiality’ is a a free card. If a company decides PFAS isn’t material, poof—no disclosure. No metrics. No targets. No consequences.
Chemical giants like 3M, DuPont, and Chemours have known for decades that PFAS are toxic.
But instead of cleaning up their act, they’ve spent millions lobbying to keep regulations weak.
The EU’s failure to stop the widespread usage of PFAS is a political choice!