PFAS LOAD
To the BZ article “Concern about chemicals in the Rheinwald” from Friday, March 24th:
The concentration of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in suspended matter in the Rhine water is indeed worrying – not so much with regard to the planned Breisach-Burkheim flood retention polder, but rather from the point of view of the general PFAS burden on people and the environment. The smallest, most mobile and most frequently encountered representative of the now well-known PFAS family is trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). And TFA can already be found in every leaf of every tree in the planned polder area! And TFA is also detectable in every Kaiserstuhl wine and even in organic beer. TFA is even found in the blood of all readers of the Badische Zeitung. The ubiquitous TFA pollution can be attributed, among other things, to partially fluorinated heat transfer media in car air conditioning systems, cooling units and heat pumps that are never completely sealed. The precursor substances of TFA are also components of weed killers and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The polyfluorinated alkyl substances degrade to TFA in the atmosphere. TFA then comes back with the rain to the entire surface of our globe. There, TFA accumulation occurs throughout the plant world. The PFAS contamination in the Rhine therefore does not speak against the planned polder or the ecological flooding planned there, but should be a reason to finally practice a more effective chemicals policy: Chemicals that are no longer degradable such as trifluoroacetic acid – and their precursor substances – are no longer allowed in hit the market! Speed is of the essence here: as the wine samples examined at the Institute for Pharmacy at the University of Freiburg show, the TFA contamination is increasing rapidly from year to year.
Nicholas Geiler, Freiburg
