WASHINGTON— The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed approving the dangerously persistent pesticide epyrifenacil on canola, corn, soybean and wheat.

Monday’s announcement marks the fifth proposed approval of a PFAS pesticide since Trump took office. The pesticide is a “forever chemical” — one of a group called PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

It comes more than a month into a federal government shutdown where food stamp benefits have been delayed and are only expected to be paid at 50% of the normal rate. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are not receiving paychecks and millions of people across the nation are seeing increased disruptions to their daily lives — from air travel to securing home loans.

“While this administration uses the government shutdown as an excuse to deny food to hungry people, it’s moving at lightning speed to pollute our water with PFAS pesticides,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Trump promised to make America healthy again and rein in use of the worst pesticides, but his EPA just proposed approving its fifth new ‘forever’ pesticide that will put people at risk for generations to come.”

Epyrifenacil is known to break down into a smaller forever chemical called trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), which is thought to be one of the most pervasive PFAS water contaminants in the world. TFA comes from many sources in the environment, but recent research has highlighted the significant role pesticides play in water contamination throughout the world. Researchers believe we are exceeding what’s known as a “planetary boundary threat” with TFA, where societal health harms may be irreversible.

In 2024 a report from researchers at the Center, Environmental Working Group and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found that forever chemicals are increasingly being added to U.S. pesticide products, contaminating waterways and posing potential threats to human health.

While some PFAS differ in their toxicities, their potential to bioaccumulate and potential to pollute water, all PFAS are highly persistent and have chemical bonds that will essentially never break down. PFAS ingredients in pesticide products have been found to contaminate streams and rivers throughout the country.

In keeping with the mandate of the recent pesticide industry-captured Make America Healthy Again Commission’s strategy report, the EPA created a webpage falsely claiming “robust review procedures” when approving pesticides, including forever chemicals. The website seeks to sow doubt about what qualifies as a forever chemical, but there is no widely accepted scientific research supporting those doubts.

The proposed approval of epyrifenacil will allow it to be combined in the same product with another PFAS pesticide called pyroxasulfone, all but ensuring that any resulting pollution will contain mixtures of different PFAS chemicals.

“This administration’s attempt to whitewash what we know about these chemicals and the faulty approval process that permits them is exactly what you’d expect from an office run by chemical lobbyists,” said Donley. “Not only did the pesticide industry get a proposed approval of its dangerous new product, but it also got a shiny new government website parroting its misleading talking points.”

Under the Trump administration, the pesticide office is controlled by two former lobbyists for the American Chemistry Council, Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva, and one former lobbyist for the pro-pesticide American Soybean Association, Kyle Kunkler.

The other PFAS pesticides the EPA has proposed to approve since Trump took office are trifludimoxazin, cyclobutrifluram, isocycloseram and diflufenican.