Domestic Wine Heavily Contaminated with Forever Chemicals

The forever chemical TFA is the degradation product of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), which are used, among other things, in herbicides as active and auxiliary substances (and itself belongs to this substance class). In 2021, the pesticide manufacturer Bayer informed the EU that TFA causes severe malformations in fetuses in animal experiments and applied for the classification of the substance as "presumably reproductive toxic (reproductive hazardous, note) to humans," according to Burtscher-Schaden: "The substance is extremely persistent in the environment and accumulates in water."

Current Wine Contains a Hundred Times More Forever Chemical Than Water

Environmentalists from Global 2000 and other members of the European Pesticide Action Network (PAN Europe) found TFA last year throughout Europe, including Austria, in tap and mineral water, as well as in rivers and groundwater. In wines from recent vintages (2021 to 2024), they have now discovered up to a hundred times the amount, namely an average of 122 micrograms per liter, reported Burtscher-Schaden: "We analyzed 18 wines from Lower Austria, Burgenland, and Styria, as well as 21 wines from nine other European countries." All contained TFA. The high amount of this substance in wine "indicates that TFA apparently accumulates massively in plants," the expert suggests: "We probably ingest significantly more TFA through food than previously assumed."

Immediate Ban on Forever Chemical Demanded

In contrast, additionally tested wines from the vintages 1974, 1979, and 1982 were free from the presumably reproductive-hazardous substance. The oldest wine contaminated with TFA dates back to 1988, according to Burtscher-Schaden: "That is exactly one year after the Montreal Protocol for the protection of the ozone layer came into force." The ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were banned and increasingly replaced by F-gases as refrigerants, from which TFA emerges. From the 1990s onwards, PFAS pesticides were also used, he explained. In recent times, from about 2015 to 2020, the entry of these chemicals into the environment has obviously "peaked," the expert stated: "There is an urgent need for action to prevent further TFA emissions into the environment." Therefore, an immediate ban on PFAS pesticides and F-gases should be enacted. He also called for "a comprehensive monitoring program for TFA in food."

Wines Worldwide Contaminated with Forever Chemical

Not only Austrian and European wine is contaminated with TFA, explained Michael Müller from the University of Freiburg (Germany): "Samples independently examined by us from around the world show the same pattern," namely a very rapid increase in concentrations in recent years. Tests have shown that the source of TFA in the environment, namely PFAS pesticides, is "not essential" for agriculture. They could be well replaced by safer alternatives.

Forever Chemical in Wine: Greens Urge Government to Act

"The alarming, but unfortunately not surprising results should set off alarm bells for the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Health. This is once again a clear mandate to put an end to this poisoning with forever chemicals," responded Olga Voglauer, agriculture spokesperson for the Greens, in a statement. "In the past 25 years, the chemical lobby and its agro-industry have consistently contaminated our livelihoods, our water, our soils, and our food with chemicals that can never be broken down or removed. Such chemicals must have their approval revoked," she demanded.

(APA/Red)

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