The enormity and complexity of the scientific and engineering challenges posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) cannot be overstated. More than 10,000 chemicals meet the varied definitions of PFAS. Their detection in the environment is widespread, and they are present in myriad industrial, military, commercial, consumer, and pharmaceutical products and materials. While the science continues to evolve rapidly, significant uncertainties surround our understanding of PFAS’ exposure pathways, health effects, measurement methods, removal and destruction technologies, and alternatives. Earlier this week, the U.S. government’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) unveiled an ambitious federal research and development (R&D) strategic plan that identifies core topics warranting research.

Overview

Picking up where NSTC’s 2023 PFAS Report (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2023/03/14/nstc_pfas_report) left off, the R&D plan offers a structured whole-of-government vision for PFAS research…in just 19 pages. Despite representing the contributions of dozens of individuals in diverse federal agencies, the plan is both coherent and logical. It offers a vision for a future state of knowledge, though it stops short of delivering a roadmap for achieving that vision.

Research and Development Objectives

The plan outlines five primary areas of focus:

1. Understanding PFAS exposure pathways
2. Addressing measurement challenges
3. Investigating toxicological mechanisms, health effects, and risks of PFAS exposure
4. Developing technologies for the removal, destruction, and disposal of PFAS
5. Identifying alternatives and evaluating their effects.

Those areas of focus flow logically into research objectives:

• Enhance understanding of PFAS in the environment
  • Characterize occurrence, fate, and transport
  • Study bioaccumulation and food web behavior
• Advance PFAS detection and measurement
  • Improve current analytical methods and develop new methods for various media
  • Develop efficient technologies for identification and quantification
  • Develop programs for measuring PFAS in various media
• Assess human and ecological health impacts
  • Investigate exposure pathways and health outcomes
  • Support comprehensive risk assessments
• Develop and implement remediation strategies
  • Evaluate and optimize removal, destruction, and disposal technologies
  • Support comprehensive risk assessments
• Identify and assess PFAS alternatives
  • Review existing alternatives and develop new ones
  • Perform comprehensive safety and performance evaluations.

The R&D strategy identifies three cross-cutting themes embedded in most or all objectives:

1. Federal data sharing
2. Community engagement
3. Environmental justice

What is Missing?

The plan describes a vision of a future state of R&D on PFAS, but omits important details needed to operationalize that vision. For example:

• How will R&D efforts be prioritized? There are myriad needs, and all cannot be met simultaneously. And not all will have equal benefit in filling knowledge gaps to result in management decisions that protect human health, welfare, and the environment.
• How will federal agencies efficiently collaborate? The risks of redundant or misaligned research will grow in the absence of strong coordination across all groups.
• What kinds of public and private infrastructure is needed (e.g., commercial analytical laboratory capacity, educational resources and training, funding)?
• What opportunities exist to build public-private partnerships early, and what incentives can be offered to the private sector to participate?
• What are barriers to participation in the fuller characterization of PFAS in the environment, buildings, and products? The scope of the characterization appears to require individuals to agree to biomonitoring and private landholders to agree to environmental sampling. What options exist to remove such barriers?

Read the Strategic Plan here: PFAS Federal R&D Strategic Plan (whitehouse.gov)