PFAS (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a class of more than 14,000 synthetic, highly toxic chemicals that are resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. Since the invention of Teflon in 1938, PFAS have become widely used in industrial processes as surfactants, lubricants and repellents and in products ranging from cosmetics and hygiene products to clothing, furniture, packaging, pesticides, and firefighting foam. PFAS have been commonly branded as “forever chemicals” because they are nearly indestructible in the environment and in our bodies due to their strong fluorine-carbon bond. PFAS persist for thousands of years because they do not break down over time.
PFAS pollution is ubiquitous. PFAS is present in the air, rain, species, atmosphere and water across the Great Lakes basin, which provides drinking water for 60 million people. Studies have shown that more than 99 per cent of people in Canada have PFAS in their blood. These impossible-to-avoid chemicals pose harms to human health and ecosystems.
Forever chemicals have been linked to a range of adverse health effects, including cardiovascular disease, cancers such as thyroid and testicular cancer, liver damage, immune system effects, developmental impacts, fertility and low infant birth weight. Like many environmental harms, these impacts are not felt equally. Youth and people of Northern First Nations bear greater harms and exposures, and firefighters are dying of PFAS-related cancers at higher rates due to PFAS contained in firefighting foams and protective gear. This poses a serious issue of environmental justice.
Industry has known about the harms of this class of PFAS chemicals for decades, and hidden their data from regulators and the public. While industry makes billions in PFAS profits, the world incurs trillions in associated health and cleanup costs. The estimated annual health cost to Canada is up to $9 billion.
In April 2021, the federal government signaled its intention to tackle these harmful pollutants as a class under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). A substance-by-substance approach to PFAS would be ineffective because it results in banned or restricted chemicals being replaced by unrestricted chemicals in a toxic treadmill of exposure to the endless variety of essentially the same or similar chemicals. This regrettable substitution has occurred for the few PFAS currently restricted in Canada. Considering PFAS as a class reduces the chances of regrettable substitution and better addresses exposures to multiple PFAS.
Listing a class of substances on Schedule 1 of CEPA empowers the Ministers responsible to make regulations to prevent or control those substances. Since the government started the process under CEPA in 2021, progress has stalled and the ambition of the scope of the listing has been eroded by industry influence.
As these chemicals continue to compound in our bodies and the environment, and as we head into a pending federal election in 2025, the urgency of the PFAS crisis continues to intensify. It is critical that the federal government move quickly to list PFAS under CEPA and take the necessary first steps to mitigate the spread and harms of these forever chemicals.
