Do you know what PFAS are? 83% of respondents from a 2025 YouGov survey knew nothing about PFAS. Despite public awareness being limited, the impacts of PFAS are widespread.
Commonly known as ‘forever chemicals’, PFAS persist in the environment for extremely long periods of time without breaking down. They’re found in animals and humans, and as we learn more about their potential negative effects, PFAS are a growing concern as both an environmental pollutant and a toxic substance.
This article explores the extent and impact of forever chemicals, and why they are becoming part of the Welsh agenda.
What are they?
PFAS stands for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. They are a group of over 10,000 different chemicals with similar structures, and can be solids, liquids or gases.
Due to very strong chemical bonds characteristic of this group, PFAS don’t naturally degrade and can last in the environment for decades or even centuries.
PFAS are very useful for manufacturing as they are resistant to heat, water and oil, making them highly stable. Consequently, they’re found in various every-day and industrial products. However, the properties that make them useful also make them very difficult pollutants to tackle.
Common uses of PFAS
|
Use |
Property |
|
Non-stick pans, food packaging |
Oil resistance, heat resistance |
|
Make-up, paint |
Oil resistance, water resistance |
|
Rain jackets, clothes |
Water resistance |
|
Firefighting foams |
Heat resistance |
|
Insecticides, fungicides, herbicides |
Stability |
Source: UK Parliament research briefing: Regulation and remediation of ‘forever’ chemicals.
Where are they found?
PFAS are found everywhere: in household products, the environment and even in humans. There are multiple ways PFAS can enter the environment during production, use and disposal of PFAS-containing products. PFAS can be released into the air, soil and water, either indirectly, i.e. runoff or atmospheric transport from contaminated sites, or directly.
Industrial and household wastewater is not effectively filtered for PFAS, so treated wastewater being returned to the environment can contaminate soil and water.
The use of firefighting foams can also directly leach PFAS into the environment. One firefighting foam plant in North Yorkshire had legal action brought against it for reportedly being a “pollution hotspot” and contaminating groundwater. Further investigation on residents and former employees found “alarming” levels of PFAS in their blood.
Once in the environment, PFAS can spread rapidly, especially in water. Elevated PFAS levels have been found in over a third of water courses tested in Wales and England, and have even been found in remote regions far away from human activity, such as in Arctic ice.
What are the effects on wildlife and human health?
PFAS can make their way into food chains and have been found in dolphins, otters, porpoises, fish and birds across the UK, and various land animals too. In a 2024 study, researchers found widely-used PFAS in almost all samples tested of human blood.
Elevated levels of PFAS are associated with negative effects on physiology:
- In wildlife and pets, PFAS are associated with disorders relating to liver and thyroid function, metabolism, immunity and development.
- In humans, PFAS are associated with adverse effects on liver and heart function; reproduction and fertility; hormones and immunity; and may also be associated with type 2 diabetes and several cancers.
What’s being done about them?
Some restrictions already exist in the UK, with several groups of PFAS currently banned under the UN Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Water companies perform regular testing for 48 different types of PFAS and must treat the water supply if levels go beyond a certain point. The Drinking Water Inspectorate recommends that PFAS levels do not exceed 0.1µg per litre, however there are no statutory standards for PFAS in drinking water for Wales and England, despite the Health and Safety Executive recommending they be developed in 2023.
On 3 February 2026, the UK Government published a plan to better understand, reduce exposure to, and support a transition away from the use of PFAS. It includes:
- Increasing yearly water sampling of PFAS (GB-wide);
- Funding more research on the effects of environmental contamination by PFAS (UK-wide);
- Developing environmental thresholds for PFAS emissions to air, land and water (UK-wide); and
- Supporting national and international developments to safer alternatives to PFAS (UK-wide).
Some parts are specific to England, and do not apply to Wales, such as evaluating PFAS levels in soil samples and coastal environments.
The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) says that it aims to align UK regulations on PFAS more closely with the EU’s by 2029. However, EU regulations include universal restrictions on PFAS in various uses like make-up and food packaging, whereas the UK plan does not make any commitment to similar universal restrictions.
What about Wales?
The PFAS plan is intergovernmental and was jointly developed with the previous Welsh Government. The then Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies MS, said the plan has “clear benefits to Wales” and:
“…sets out a UK-wide approach to minimising the harmful effects of PFAS while supporting that transition to safer alternatives.”
The water sector in Wales is about to undergo significant reform, and PFAS contamination is being considered as part of this. The previous Welsh Government’s Green Paper says that current regulation has “not kept pace with emerging and complex risks, including persistent chemicals such as PFAS”.
The topic of PFAS was a growing concern in the Sixth Senedd, having been discussed as part of wider conversations around contaminated land. Dŵr Cymru highlighted to a Sixth Senedd Committee the impact of PFAS on the water sector, and where accountability should sit:
“The PFAS are all coming from what we've got in our frying pans, in all sorts of clothes, et cetera, et cetera. This is causing problems to the water quality and to the environment. We've got two options. One option is to let it go and to treat the water and the waste water so that we get rid of the PFAS. This is extremely expensive—extremely, extremely expensive. The other opportunity or solution we've got is to say, 'Well, actually, we invite the PFAS producers or the PFAS users not to do it.”
Plaid Cymru’s 2026 manifesto has committed to further action on PFAS as part of addressing Wales’s industrial legacy and supporting coalfield communities, pledging to:
Strengthen monitoring and regulation of harmful substances, including PFAS, with mandatory testing in high-risk areas and clear action plans to protect public health.
Future research
Current research highlights promising avenues to tackle PFAS in the environment. Scientists from the universities of Bath, São Paolo, Edinburgh and Swansea have developed a method that involves using sunlight to break down PFAS. Other methods are also in development: one uses phosphate salts and another uses a system known as the ‘Annihilator’ to destroy the tough chemical bonds of PFAS.
Currently, UK policy is focused on monitoring, regulating and transitioning away from PFAS. In the future, policy may focus on remediation.
PFAS have existed for over 80 years and may exist as pollutants for much longer. But with growing public awareness, developing policy and novel research, we can hope that these chemicals won’t be around forever.
Article by Dr Ryan Biscocho, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
