Water-resistant products contain toxic PFAS chemicals linked to health risks

A new study has found that many of the water-resistant and stain-proof products sitting in our homes—the outdoor jackets, the bedding, the tablecloths we buy from major retailers—contain toxic chemicals that never break down in the environment and have been linked to liver damage, heart disease, immune disorders, cancer, and hormonal disruption.

Toxic-Free Future, an environmental and health research organization, commissioned independent laboratories to test 60 products across three categories: outdoor clothing, bedding, and table linens purchased from ten major retailers. All the items tested were imported from Asia and sold in the United States and online. The results, published in a report titled "Toxic Convenience: The hidden costs of forever chemicals in stain- and water-resistant products," revealed the presence of PFAS—perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances—in a wide range of items including raincoats, hiking pants, shirts, mattress protectors, quilts, tablecloths, and napkins. Erika Schreder, the report's scientific director, noted that PFAS were detected across the entire variety of water and stain-resistant products tested.

These man-made chemicals are composed of carbon and fluorine atoms bonded in chains that do not degrade in the environment. They have become ubiquitous: according to a 2015 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PFAS have been detected in the blood of 99 percent of Americans. Thousands of PFAS varieties are used in nonstick cookware, surgical gowns and drapes, mobile phones, semiconductors, commercial aircraft, and low-emission vehicles. In textiles, they are applied to make carpets, clothing, furniture, and food containers resistant to stains, water, and grease damage. Once applied, these treated textiles emit PFAS throughout their useful life, releasing the chemicals into the air and water of homes and communities.

What makes the findings particularly troubling is that 74 percent of the imported products tested still contained the oldest PFAS chemicals—PFOA and PFOS—substances that U.S. manufacturers voluntarily stopped producing over the past decade after they were linked to cancer, heart disease, immune disorders, and endocrine disruption. Melanie Benesh, a legislative and regulatory attorney with the Environmental Working Group, expressed alarm at discovering these long-chain PFAS in imported products, noting that the industry had claimed these chemicals had already been phased out. A spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade organization, suggested that imports might explain the presence of chemicals that have been gradually eliminated, pointing to a need for greater oversight of imported goods.

The industry has responded by developing new PFAS chemicals to replace the banned substances, simply substituting shorter carbon chains—four or six atoms instead of eight—in place of the original formulations. However, researchers warn that these newer versions appear to pose many of the same health dangers as their predecessors. Linda Birnbaum, a microbiologist and former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, described the situation as a "Whac-a-Mole" problem or a "chemical treadmill," questioning why a small molecular change would prevent the body from reacting in the same harmful way. The American Chemistry Council disagreed with the report's conclusions, arguing that not all PFAS are identical and should not be regulated uniformly.

There is, however, a path forward for consumers willing to do the work. The most straightforward approach is to avoid products marketed as stain and water-resistant altogether. For items like raincoats where water resistance is genuinely necessary, some manufacturers are turning to alternatives: tighter fabric weaves, PFAS-free membranes between coat layers, and paraffin wax, which is the only coating that has been publicly evaluated and deemed safer. The Environmental Working Group maintains a list of companies that have not intentionally added PFAS to their products. Consumers can also look for products bearing GreenScreen certification, a globally recognized tool that evaluates chemicals on a scale of one to four based on hazard level, with four being the safest. This allows shoppers to compare products and select those made with safer chemistry.

Reading labels, however, requires patience and vigilance. Not all products from a company may be PFAS-free, and older stock containing phased-out chemicals may still sit on store shelves. The alphabet soup of PFAS names—PFBA, PFPeA, PFHxA, PFUdA, PFDoA, and many others—makes identification difficult. Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, notes that companies often claim their products contain no PFOA while using other PFAS instead. Shari Franjevic, director of the GreenScreen program at Clean Production Action, emphasizes that avoiding PFAS alone is not enough; consumers should seek products made without other carcinogens, mutagens, or reproductive toxins. The effort to research and choose carefully is worth the trouble, she argues, because the chemical landscape of consumer goods extends far beyond PFAS.