Helmholtz Forum Earth and Environment Issues Statement on European PFAS Restrictions

In May 2026, the Helmholtz Forum Earth and Environment submitted a comment to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) regarding the proposed EU-wide restriction on PFAS. The comment is addressed to the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) and was developed in collaboration with researchers from UFZ, Hereon, RIFS, and DZNE. It builds on the results of the SynCom (now: Helmholtz Forum Earth and Environment) Project ModHaz as well as a policy brief on chemical regulation published in 2025.

PFAS are persistent, mobile, and capable of transboundary transport—and once released, they are virtually impossible to recover. The statement is based on current research on health and environmental risks: real-world PFAS mixtures can impair placental function (Yu Xia et al., Environmental Research, 2025); pesticides are a significant source of trifluoroacetate in water bodies (Joerss et al., Environment International, 2024); even alternatives such as HFPO-DA have already been detected in the Arctic (Joerss et al., Environmental Science & Technology, 2020); and low PFAS concentrations in the blood are associated with unfavorable blood lipid levels and increased cardiovascular risk (Faquih et al., Exposure and Health, 2024). Findings from the DZNE’s Rhineland study are also incorporated into the statement. Modern screening methods further indicate that current monitoring underestimates the actual diversity of the PFAS landscape (Joerss & Menger, Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 2023).

On this basis, the statement advocates for group-based regulation of PFAS, the expansion of monitoring, the use of modern animal-free testing methods, and a clear exemption for scientific research and reference analysis.