Through the modern industrial age, there’s always been a push-and-pull between the utility of our innovations and the risks they often inadvertently create. In the 70’s, we discovered the synthetic pesticide that was so effectively combating typhus and malaria, DDT, was causing breast cancer and impairing neurological development in babies. In the 80’s and 90’s, the CFCs that we used as aerosol propellants and refrigerant turned out to be damaging to the ozone layer.
Recently, it’s gotten more complicated: We still enjoy the increased power and versatility of lithium-ion batteries in our high-tech toys, we just balance it against the increased risk of overheating, i.e., some of our toys bursting into flames. We continue to rely upon plastics for their pliability, durability, and resistance to corrosion in everything from food preparation to medical equipment, even as we attempt to innovate ways to limit their quantifiable, negative impact on our organic environment.
It is in this context that investigators are attempting to understand — and appreciate — the exploding ubiquity of Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the environment. TFA is in the class of man-made per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — more commonly known as PFAS — but has a simpler molecular structure, as well as a lower boiling point and higher acidity. It is used in industrial applications, such as organic synthesis, and more conventional applications, in heating and cooling systems. Like its brother and sister PFAS, TFA is considered a ‘forever chemical,’ because of how long it takes to break down naturally.
In addition to intentional TFA usage, certain other man-made chemicals, when they degrade, break down into TFA, such as the most recent climate-friendly alternatives to HFCs for cooling air conditioners, heat pumps and refrigerators. Notably, TFA is now found everywhere, in increasing volume. China had a 17-fold increase of TFA in surface waters in a decade, and the United States had a sixfold increase in 23 years. TFA in rainwater in Germany has been found to have increased fivefold in the past two decades. TFA was detected in 34 of 36 European tap water samples. Because of its smaller size than traditional PFAS, it is extraordinarily difficult to filter for, or to remove, once it infiltrates these bodies of water.
Yet there is no consensus on what this ultimately means. There are few toxicological studies of TFA available, and it is not even currently regulated by the EPA, whose position on TFA is that increasing concentrations are not currently considered to pose health risks. Indeed, most readily available literature dedicated to discussion of TFA inevitably turns to discussions of the larger classes of PFAS. The narrative through-line on TFA appears to be a general concern over its exploding — and well-nigh permanent — presence in the world, but a collective acknowledgement that we have more immediate chemicalcompounds to contend with.
