Over 100 NGOs Launch Manifesto Urging EU Leaders to Stop PFAS Pollution
More than 100 NGOs, including Tegengif, have united to demand urgent EU action to stop PFAS pollution. In a manifesto launched on 7 October 2025, they warn that Europe is facing a PFAS pollution crisis that threatens people’s health and must be treated as an emergency.
The manifesto calls on the EU to introduce a broad restriction on PFAS production and use by 2030, and to swiftly clean up pollution hotspots which are already impacting communities across Europe. Signatories stress that PFAS, also known as ‘forever chemicals’ ‘pose an unacceptable risk for both current and future generations’.
The Manifesto was originally launched in 2023, but since then, new scientific evidence of the risks associated with PFAS has been published, as has very encouraging progress from companies developing safer alternatives, which is now included in the new Manifesto.
PFAS pollution in Europe
PFAS pollution is pervasive across Europe. According to the Forever Pollution Project, almost 23,000 sites across Europe are already polluted with PFAS, with a further 21,500 sites suspected to be contaminated. These ‘forever chemicals’ have infiltrated our food, drinking water, air, soil, rivers, and seas. In some areas, pollution levels are so high that local authorities have even warned residents not to drink their tap water.
- In the region of Saint-Louis in France PFAS pollution levels were so high that letters were sent to 60,000 residents prohibiting vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children under the age of two from drinking their tap water.
- In Ronneby, Sweden, the levels of several PFAS in residents’ blood are among the highest globally. In 2023, the Swedish Supreme Court ruled that over 150 local residents were entitled to claim compensation for personal injury.
- In Veneto, Italy, PFAS pollution from the chemical company Miteni has contaminated drinking water and soil across an estimated 200 km², affecting up to 350,000 people. Blood tests in 2015–2016 showed that residents in contaminated areas had significantly higher PFAS levels than those outside.
With mounting scientific evidence linking PFAS to health issues such as certain cancers, immune system harm, and fertility issues, the EU is currently considering a proposed group restriction on all PFAS.
Urgent action is needed
The manifesto sets out eight key reasons why urgent EU action on PFAS is needed – from their threat to human health and drinking water to PFAS’s role in the biodiversity and climate crises, and the barriers these chemicals create to a clean circular economy. It also stresses that many PFAS-free alternatives are already available or in development, proving that the transition away from PFAS is both possible and already happening.
On 6 October, the European Environmental Bureau and ChemSec published the results of blood testing which found PFAS in 24 top politicians from across 19 European countries, including the EU environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall. This shows that no one is immune from exposure to these forever chemicals. Previous studies echo these findings. Human biomonitoring studies (pdf) show that harmful chemicals, including PFAS, are widespread in the bodies of Europeans.
In the Netherlands, research by RIVM shows that people in the Netherlands have multiple PFAS in their blood. Tegengif initiated a small-scale signaling study showing that PFAS, including the now banned carcinogenic substance PFOA, were found in the blood of all thirteen participants.
The NGOs are urging the EU to keep the proposed group-wide PFAS restriction strong and comprehensive, ensuring it applies to both production and use, with only minimal, time-limited exemptions. They also call for PFAS to be addressed in other legislation, such as for pesticides, which are not covered by the current proposal. The only way to halt the damage, they say, is to ban all PFAS as one group.
Sandra Bell from CHEM Trust said: “There’s a growing consensus from environmental and health groups that the only way to protect EU citizens and our environment from the risks of ‘forever chemicals’ is to stop their production and use. Trailblazing European companies are already using or developing safer alternatives, so the EU should show global leadership by introducing a broad PFAS restriction”.
Karolína Brabcová from Arnika said: “We are witnessing major pushback mostly from the chemicals industry to water down the PFAS and other chemicals legislation. But this goes totally against the will of civil society groups as well as European citizens. Their voices united under the Stop PFAS Manifesto signed by over 100 environmental, consumer and other civil society groups including those from affected by PFAS pollution communities are clear enough: Lets stop PFAS pollution now by phasing out PFAS production via a strong universal PFAS ban as proposed within the REACH legislation”.
Noémie Jegou, Policy Officer for Chemicals at the European Environmental Bureau, said: “For 80 years, PFAS have silently poisoned our health and environment. Each day of inaction deepens the economic and social crisis we face. Across Europe and the world, citizens, NGOs, and businesses are rising to confront this threat. Now, policymakers must step up: enact a broad, ambitious universal PFAS restriction, clean up existing contamination, and hold polluters accountable“.
If you are concerned about PFAS you can take action
- Individuals can sign the Toxic-Free Europe petition
- In the Netherlands you can sign this this petition
