In 2 out of 5 samples

“Eternal chemical” also in mineral water

(Bild: Robert Poorten)

Environmentalists have made a highly alarming discovery. Residues of the "eternity chemical" trifluoroacetate were found in two out of five Austrian mineral water samples.

Environmentalists from Global 2000 and the European Pesticide Action Network (PAN Europe) took mineral water samples from originally packaged bottles from bottlers in Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Hungary in spring 2024. They then had an analysis carried out to determine whether it contained TFA. This substance belongs to the group of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds, PFAS for short, which are increasingly being banned in the European Union due to their many harmful effects on health.

Degradation product of certain pesticides
It is the "terminal degradation product" of around 2000 PFAS and is considered a "perpetual chemical" due to its high persistence, explained Helmut Burtscher-Schaden from Global 2000 at an online press conference on Tuesday. TFA contamination mainly comes from the use of certain pesticides in agriculture.

Overall, TFA was detectable in ten out of nineteen bottlers in the countries investigated. "TFA has already found its way into the groundwater bodies from which our mineral waters originate, which are often hundreds of meters deep and are supposedly protected from anthropogenic (man-made, note) pollutants," said the environmental protection organizations in a press release. However, the quantities are not harmful to health: even with a high daily consumption of two liters of the most heavily contaminated mineral water (from Belgium), the health guidelines for an adult in the European Union would not be exceeded.

Bottlers wanted to prevent presentation of the results
The consequences of this contamination could threaten the existence of mineral water bottlers, who generally have little influence on the contamination, said Burtscher-Schaden. The affected bottlers had also expressed the "clear demand not to publish the results" to the environmental protection organization, said the chemist. In one case, legal action was even threatened "to protect the reputation of the brand concerned and to obtain compensation for the damage suffered".