PFAS in Produce: California Study Exposes the Gap Between MAHA Goals and Reality
Updated
California, known for its high-tech dominance—and now high-tech exodus—and Hollywood glitz, is also the nation’s agricultural powerhouse. The state supplies nearly half of the vegetables and more than 75 percent of the fruits, nuts, and wine consumed in the United States. It also leads the nation in dairy production, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the nation’s total milk supply. And every year, agricultural fields in 58 California counties are sprayed with an average of 2.5 million pounds of toxic pesticides, including deadly “forever chemicals” known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). A new study reveals that these forever chemicals contaminate nearly 40 percent of all non-organic produce grown in the state, with a total of 17 different PFAS pesticide residues detected on 40 types of produce, including peaches, strawberries, plums, and grapes.
In addition to dominating farming in America, California is the fifth-largest supplier of food and other agricultural products in the world, despite being home to a mere 4 percent of the farms and ranches in this country. As noted in California Local, the 400-mile-long and 50-mile-wide Central Valley region alone produces 8 percent of our nation’s food supply, even though it contains just 1 percent of America’s farmland. Yet, California lags behind other states (and international efforts) in implementing direct regulations on PFAS in critical agricultural inputs, such as pesticides and biosolids (sewage sludge used as fertilizer). Why is that?
California leads the nation in areas such as product bans (including textiles and cosmetics) and drinking water monitoring when it comes to forever chemicals. Still, as California governor Gavin Newsom largely ignores the topic, the state has not yet imposed targeted restrictions, bans, or strict limits on the major sources of PFAS in agriculture—in the food that feeds the nation and world. In fact, California registers and allows the widespread use of 53 PFAS pesticides, with, as previously noted, farms applying an average of 2.5 million pounds each year to crops such as almonds, pistachios, alfalfa, spinach, blueberries, lettuce, lemons, and other popular items.
Meanwhile, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has imposed no restrictions or reevaluations for these incredibly disruptive pesticides. Likewise, Gov. Newsom has not signed any legislation addressing this gap, and no executive actions have restricted them, as highlighted by the advocacy group Environmental Working Group (EWG), which conducted the study at hand, finding PFAS residues in nearly 40 percent of non-organic produce grown in California. Could the state be looking the other way regarding forever chemicals in agriculture because crops like grapes and strawberries brought in cash receipts totaling $6.5 and $3 billion in 2023?
According to EWG, certain non-organic, conventionally grown produce from California stands out in the data more than others. More than 90 percent of the nectarines, plums, and peaches sampled carried a single PFAS pesticide, the fungicide fludioxonil, which is an endocrine disruptor. Likewise, it causes oxidative stress and cellular damage, it is a neurotoxin, and it is poisonous to the liver and kidneys, causing DNA damage. Oh, and it has developmental effects, such as a dilated renal pelvis in rat fetuses at high doses. Nonetheless, regulatory agencies such as the EPA and WHO describe the forever chemical fludioxonil (which was the most frequently detected PFAS in CA) as moderately hazardous or low risk at approved levels, with no strong evidence of neurotoxicity. Offering a more accurate perspective, while noting that the poison is “highly toxic and severely irritating” to aquatic plants, bacteria, insects, fish, and aquatic invertebrates, Beyond Pesticides shared:
“Fludioxonil persists in soil — near the surface for weeks, and for years if it ends up deeper in the soil, where sunlight cannot speed its degradation; it is also a “super toxin” for earthworms. The fungicide’s extensive post-harvest use on food crops is of particular concern because it eliminates the chance for wind, rain, and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) light to break down the compound, and once applied, the waxy fungicide is not easily removed by rinsing. Further, UV-vis treatment of produce (which is sometimes done to reduce pathogens on fresh fruits and vegetables) actually significantly increases the toxicity of fludioxonil.”
This level of intentional poisoning of our food is unacceptable, and the toxin fludioxonil is just one pesticide, again, found on nectarines, peaches, and plums. EWG’s study found that strawberries, grapes, and cherries had 80 percent or more of samples contaminated with PFAS pesticides. And, more often than not, they found four or more different PFAS pesticides on the individual pieces of fruit. Strawberries had residues of ten separate forever chemicals, including bifenthrin. In a glimmer of hope, some types of produce had no detectable levels of PFAS pesticides, but the study noted that they may still contain other pesticide residues. These include summer and winter squash, sweet corn, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, cauliflower, mushrooms, avocados, and sweet potatoes.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and his team under the Trump administration have, on numerous occasions, framed PFAS as a top target for elimination from our food, water, and the environment. For years, Kennedy has positioned forever chemicals as a critical toxin, contributing to the childhood chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation and the overall decline in the health of Americans. Nonetheless, delays in PFAS drinking water standards, rollbacks on some limits, and approvals of new PFAS-containing pesticides have left many feeling frustrated and hopeless. Indeed, as frustration grows over stalled progress in protecting Americans from the poisons that have, quite literally, taken over our way of life, the recent EWG study—confirming that 40 percent of California’s conventional produce is contaminated—underscores the sheer urgency of completely phasing out these persistent, “forever” toxins in our food and environment.
