Maine’s emerging chemical threat in our home appliances

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 5, 2024

An environmental threat is emerging in Maine and throughout the world from the refrigeration chemicals that replaced ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons after they were banned in 1987. The toxic compound, trifluoroacetic acid, or TFA, is a byproduct of the chemicals now widely used in aerosol products and to cool refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps. It is produced when those chemicals, known as hydrofluorocarbons, degrade. TFA is widespread and has been increasingly found in drinking water and rain worldwide in recent decades, causing environmental experts to worry about possible undetected health risks. So far, Maine and the federal government are not regulating or testing for TFA, which is considered by many to be a forever chemical.