{"id":216337,"date":"2026-03-12T11:31:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/216337\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T11:31:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:31:42","slug":"nearly-40-of-california-produce-contains-pfas-pesticides-report-finds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/216337\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 40% of California produce contains PFAS pesticides, report finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new report<\/a> shows that nearly 40% of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables tested by California regulators have residues of \u201cforever\u201d or PFAS chemicals, a family of compounds that can be lasting and harmful.<\/p>\n

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., reviewed California\u2019s own test data and found PFAS pesticide residues on peaches, grapes and strawberries, and about three dozen other types of fruits and vegetables. <\/p>\n

The chemicals have increasingly been used in agricultural chemicals in recent years. <\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the thing: This is an emerging threat,\u201d said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director for the Center for Biological Diversity, who was not involved in the report. \u201cPFAS pesticides went from being the exception to now they\u2019re the rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 90% of nectarine, peach and plum samples tested contained the PFAS fungicide fludioxonil. The fungicide is sprayed on the fruits after harvest to prevent mold. More than 80% of the cherries, strawberries and grapes sampled carried PFAS residue.<\/p>\n

The group relied on data collected in 2023 by California\u2019s Department of Pesticide Regulation, a branch of CalEPA. <\/p>\n

There are thousands of PFAS chemicals used in consumer products, electronics, pharmaceuticals and pesticides. They are prized by product manufacturers for their strength, persistence and water resistance. However, many are considered highly toxic, even at very low levels. They\u2019ve been linked to immune suppression, cancer and reproductive and developmental health disruptions and toxicity. They\u2019ve also been linked to ecosystem damage, harming aquatic animals and wildlife.<\/p>\n

The vast majority<\/a> of PFAS chemicals have not been tested for human health effects. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when most industries are transitioning away from PFAS chemicals, the pesticide industry is actually doubling down on them,\u201d said Donley, who has published papers on the issue. \u201cI think that the persistence of these chemicals is certainly playing a role\u201d in why industries find them desirable, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut then again, you get a whole heck of a lot more collateral damage when you have a pesticide that sticks around as long as DDT does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Regulators say that not all PFAS chemicals are the same. While some can persist for thousands of years, others break down much more quickly. They also say the ones used in approved pesticides are vetted for human health impacts, as well as ecosystem impacts \u2014 such as how they could affect pollinators, aquatic organisms and other wildlife. There are also strict usage requirements that limit the amount of chemicals applied to food, they say.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore any pesticide can be sold or used in California, DPR (Department of Pesticide Regulation) conducts a thorough scientific review. This includes evaluating both the active ingredients and full product formulations to understand how long the chemicals remain in the environment and how they break down, which is a key concern for PFAS compounds,\u201d said Amy MacPherson, a spokeswoman for the pesticide agency. <\/p>\n

In addition, she said, while the report looks at \u201cdetections\u201d of PFAS chemicals, her agency \u201clooks at how those detections compare to federal tolerance levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said this is important because \u201cdetection alone … does not necessarily mean there\u2019s a health risk. Tolerance levels consider lifelong, daily exposure that pose a reasonable certainty of no harm, inclusive of chronic risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Varun Subramaniam, a co-author of the report and a health data specialist with the Environmental Working Group, said he focused on California for two reasons: California\u2019s pesticide department is one of the few, if not only, state agencies to do this kind of testing; and the state is one of the nation\u2019s largest producers of fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings that are grown in California tend to spread across the country,\u201d said Subramaniam, who is working on a national report documenting the use of these pesticides. \u201cWe thought California was a good starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roughly 70 PFAS pesticides are registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accounting for about 14% of all active pesticide ingredients<\/a>. California has registered 53 PFAS pesticides.<\/p>\n

According to the report, about 2.5 million pounds of PFAS pesticides are applied annually on California cropland.<\/p>\n

Both Subramaniam and Donley said states such as Maine, Rhode Island, Minnesota and North Carolina are \u201cway ahead\u201d of California in considering the harm these chemicals pose to people and ecosystems, and are trying to ban them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese chemicals are really top of mind in the East Coast, especially in New England states where … this story has been going on for decades,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Subramaniam said people should wash their produce before eating, and opt for organic fruits and vegetables when they can \u2014 organic farmers cannot use these chemicals on their produce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new report shows that nearly 40% of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables tested by California regulators have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,99299,3655,6246,21059,98597,29206,37424,99298,99253,3729,99300,3293,98599,13804],"class_list":["post-216337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-produce","tag-chemical","tag-department","tag-fruit","tag-nathan-donley","tag-peach","tag-pesticide-regulation","tag-pfas-chemical","tag-pfas-pesticide","tag-report","tag-strawberry","tag-thousand","tag-varun-subramaniam","tag-vegetable"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}