This was originally published in the National Observer on July 24, 2025.
Demands to regulate the harmful impacts of toxic PFAS chemicals are growing. In recent polling, nearly nine in 10 Canadians from every region and political affiliation showed support for strong government action to regulate the chemicals.
PFAS (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a class of more than 14,000 synthetic, highly toxic, and nearly indestructible chemicals that are resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease and water. Used in a wide range of products from cosmetics to firefighting foam, these impossible-to-avoid “forever chemicals” pollute and build up in our bodies and the environment over time, wreaking havoc on the health of humans and ecosystems.
In March 2025, the government issued a proposed order to list and regulate the class of PFAS as toxic, under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). This designation would unlock regulatory and risk management instruments that empower the federal government to curb the harm caused by these toxic chemicals.
Now, we stand at a threshold — the government is just one step away from finalizing the listing order. And as the crisis continues to mount, it’s imperative to act as quickly as possible.
PFAS are everywhere
First discovered in 1934 by chemists at German conglomerate IG Farben, PFAS were introduced to the consumer market by 3M and DuPont beginning in 1938, through products like Freon in refrigeration, Teflon cookware, and Scotchgard furniture protector. Thanks to their durability and repellant properties, PFAS quickly found use in other commercial and industrial applications.
Today, these chemicals are ubiquitous in nearly every industry, 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.
The exact properties that make these chemicals so valued in industrial and consumer applications also make them extremely toxic. Because they are nearly indestructible, they can persist in the environment for thousands of years and are impossible to avoid. PFAS pollution is pervasive in the air, rain, species, atmosphere and water across the Great Lakes basin, which provides drinking water for 60 million people.
Forever chemicals wreak havoc on the human body, but don’t impact everyone equally
Studies have shown that more than 99 per cent of people in Canada have PFAS in their blood. That number is especially alarming given that these chemicals are 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.
PFAS also raises issues of environmental justice. As with many health and environmental harms, the impacts of these chemicals are not borne equally by everyone. Youth and northern First Nations bear greater harms and exposures. Further, firefighters face high rates of exposure to PFAS contained in firefighting foam and gear meant to protect them. Over time, this has resulted in firefighters dying of PFAS-related cancers at high rates.
A crisis decades in the making demands action now
The unfortunate truth is that many of the harms we’re seeing from PFAS today could have been easily avoided if not for corporate greed.
Corporations were aware of the link between PFAS and harmful health impacts long ago, but intentionally obscured this information from regulators and the public. Internal documents obtained through litigation discovery, and now archived at UC San Francisco, show that DuPont and 3M knew that PFAS was “highly toxic when inhaled and moderately toxic when ingested” by 1970.
Their own employees suffered the consequences. In 1980, both firms found PFAS in the blood of pregnant workers and their children, and a confidential internal report at DuPont in 1981 reported birth defects among pregnant employees.
The companies behind PFAS ran the same dirty playbook as the tobacco, pharmaceutical and fossil fuels industries. They deliberately distorted public discourse, suppressed unfavourable research, and funded favourable research to influence science and regulation.
Canada’s opportunity to lead
We strongly commend the government’s decision to take a science- and class-based approach, which will collectively classify PFAS as toxic. A substance-by-substance approach would be entirely insufficient and ineffective as banned or restricted chemicals could simply be replaced by unrestricted chemicals. This would lead to a toxic treadmill of exposure to an endless variety of essentially the same or similar chemicals.
Canada is at risk of lagging behind if it fails to take PFAS regulation over the finish line. Other jurisdictions have taken meaningful action on PFAS. France adopted legislation to outright ban PFAS in some consumer products in 2026, the European Union has a roadmap for phasing out PFAS as a class, and Minnesota — home to 3M’s headquarters and a key Great Lakes partner — will phase out and eliminate all intentionally added PFAS by 2032.
This government has an opportunity to show Canadians it is serious about protecting our health and environment from the harms of PFAS. People across all regions and political stripes are demanding action. Listing PFAS as toxic under CEPA is obvious, easy, and apolitical.
All that’s left to do is for the Canadian government to take the win.
