EWG testimony to the California Senate Committee on Environmental Quality on AB1603 to restrict and ban the use of PFAS pesticides

EWG testimony to the California Senate Committee on Environmental Quality on AB1603 to restrict and ban the use of PFAS pesticides rcoleman July 9, 2026 Good morning, Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Varun Subramaniam and I am a Science Analyst at the Environmental Working Group. I hold a graduate degree in health data science as well as a degree in environmental health. I coauthored recent reports which found that, each year, millions of pounds of PFAS pesticides are being applied to, and detected in high frequencies on, fruits and vegetables grown in California. PFAS pesticides are also often found in surface water and soil near agricultural areas. PFAS in any form pose serious, well-documented health and environmental risks that warrant strict limitations of their use and regulation as a class. Exposure to PFAS is linked to liver and kidney disease, reproductive problems, child development delays, cancer, weakened thyroid function, and reduced vaccine effectiveness in children. Additionally, all PFAS share the core characteristic of a carbon-fluorine bond that results in extreme environmental persistence; they do not fully break down in the environment.3 This drastically increases the timeframe of exposure, with today’s contamination potentially harming health for decades. These PFAS pesticides fall into a regulatory blind spot . Current regulatory evaluations of PFAS pesticides do NOT adequately account for potential immune system harm or the impacts of very small forms of PFAS that form from many PFAS pesticides, including trifluoroacetic acid or TFA. Immunotoxicity is one of the most critical health effects for PFAS risk assessments, so we are overlooking key, not fringe , information by not considering studies of immune effects.4,5 In addition, TFA, which is linked to reproductive harm, has been detected in nearly all water and human serum samples, where tested. Fortunately, farmers have options that are not PFAS. Of the roughly 1,000 active pesticide ingredients currently approved for use in California, 95% are not PFAS. And other states, like Maine and Minnesota, have already announced planned phase-outs for these chemicals. The health and environmental risks of PFAS exposure are significant. Scientists across the world agree that we must act swiftly to halt this multigenerational cycle of contamination. Thank you. Areas of Focus Toxic Chemicals Pesticides PFAS Chemicals Authors Varun Subramaniam, M.S. June 24, 2026