An investigation by UFC-Que Choisir and the environmental NGO Générations Futures revealed on January 23 the omnipresence of PFAS in tap water in France. Among the cities tested: Strasbourg and Mulhouse where tap water contains several of these “eternal pollutants”, notably a worrying level of TFA, a still little-known and potentially toxic PFAS.
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They are everywhere and there are thousands of them: perfluoroalkyls and polyfluoroalkyls or PFAS. So-called “eternal” pollutants because they are almost indestructible. Still largely unknown, they could have effects on fertility or promote cancer.
The UFC-Que Choisir and the environmental NGO Générations Futures unveiled this Thursday, January 23, the results of analysis of tap water from 30 municipalities across the country. The presence of PFAS was revealed in 29 of the 30 municipalities targeted. Among them, the two main Alsatian cities, Strasbourg and Mulhouse.
33 PFAS were tested for in tap water. In Strasbourg, 8 of the 33 pollutants were found, including PFOS, a PFAS banned in France since 2019. In Mulhouse, 3 of 33 molecules were found.
The TFA found in tap water in Strasbourg and Mulhouse comes from the degradation of a toxic pesticide, flufenacet.
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© France Television
Among the PFAS detected, one in particular attracts attention: trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). The TFA levels taken are worrying: 80 ng/l in Strasbourg and 140 ng/l in Mulhouse.
“This TFA is a pesticide metabolite, that is to say a molecule resulting from the degradation of a pesticide, flufenacet which the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) classified in September 2024 as an endocrine disruptor” explain Pierre-Jean Dessez, environmental referent for UFC-QueChoisir du Bas-Rhin.
-Problem is, this PFAS is very rarely researched by regional health agencies and is not subject to any regulation. “If flufenacet is recognized as dangerous, a metabolite of flufenacet should be too, we should apply the same alert threshold to it, namely no more than 100 ng/l on its own”, estimates Pierre-Jean Dessez
In this case, the threshold detected in tap water in Strasbourg would come dangerously close to the compliance limit. In Mulhouse, he would be completely in the red.
Concerning the other PFAS found in Strasbourg and Mulhouse, their concentration oscillates between 1.2 and 7 ng/l. A rate lower than the threshold that France plans to apply from 2026. This threshold, which results from a European directive, targets 20 molecules whose sum must not exceed 100 ng/l. The Strasbourg and Mulhouse samples are therefore fully compliant with future regulations.
Consumption of tap water would therefore be harmless to health. Not so sure, replies UFC-QueChoisir du Bas-Rhin in a press release: “The value of 100 ng/l is not based on any toxicological data, it is simply the level of detection that analysis methods reached a few years ago.[…] This standard does not guarantee the safety of the water tested”.
And the association drives the point home by recalling the much stricter standards applied in the United States or Denmark. If we applied the Danish standard (2ng/l for the sum of 4 PFAS) then the Strasbourg sample would be non-compliant.
A law to constrain industrialists
The UFC-Que Choisir calls for the adoption of more protective standards based on recent toxicological data.
She also calls for the final adoption of the law providing for the ban on the use of PFAS in certain consumer products, the drastic reduction of discharges by factories and the obligation for manufacturers to pay for depollution.
A law largely adopted at first reading by deputies, but forgotten since the dissolution of the National Assembly in June 2024.
