SACRAMENTO – The California Assembly’s Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials voted today to advance a bill that would ban toxic “forever chemical” pesticides found on nearly two in five California-grown non-organic fruits and vegetables.
The vote on Assembly Bill 1603 moves the nation’s largest agricultural state closer to phasing out a pervasive source of contamination from potentially harmful PFAS.
PFAS pesticides can’t legally be used for growing organic produce.
The legislation, introduced by Assemblymember Nick Schultz (D-Burbank), would ban the use, sale and manufacture of PFAS pesticides in California beginning in 2035. The ban would start even earlier, in 2030, for 23 PFAS pesticides the European Union has already prohibited.
The bill, if enacted, would also immediately place a pause on state approvals of PFAS pesticides and require public disclosure of the chemicals.
The Environmental Working Group is consponsoring AB 1603. Other cosponsors include Californians for Pesticide Reform, the Center for Environmental Health, the Pesticide Action Network and the Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network. The bill now heads to the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee.
“The country depends on California for its fruits and vegetables, but right now they’re being seasoned with chemicals that never break down,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, EWG’s senior vice president for California.
“We cannot claim to lead the world in public health while allowing millions of pounds of toxic PFAS to be deliberately sprayed on our most iconic crops,” she said.
A growing crisis in California fields
An EWG analysis of state data found PFAS pesticide residues on 37% of 930 samples of non-organic California-grown produce, including nine out of 10 samples of peaches, nectarines and plums.
Farmers applied 15 million pounds of PFAS pesticides across all 58 California counties between 2018 and 2023. These chemicals don't break down in the environment and can build up in the body, creating the potential for long-term harm.
“As a father, I don't want my kids eating strawberries contaminated with chemicals that will stay in their bodies for decades,” said Schultz.
“AB 1603 is a vital step toward ensuring California’s agricultural legacy is defined by health and innovation, not by the accumulation of toxic PFAS in our soil and water. We are providing a clear, responsible road map for our farmers to transition away from these persistent chemicals while re-establishing California as a global leader in food safety,” he said.
Why are some PFAS pesticides
PFAS are a group of thousands of human-made chemicals used in a wide range of consumer, industrial and electronic products, in addition to pesticides.
PFAS’ carbon-fluorine bond is among the strongest in chemistry. It is the reason they don’t break down – and the reason they’re called “forever chemicals.”
“The scale of this contamination is staggering,” said Susan Little, EWG’s legislative director in California. “Millions of pounds of PFAS are used on everyday California crops without any plan to phase them out.”
“AB 1603 provides that road map. By immediately banning new state approvals, requiring full transparency starting next year, and phasing out these chemicals as of 2035, we are finally putting public health ahead of the chemical industry,” she added.
As these chemicals partially break down over time, they can form other harmful compounds, including trifluoroacetic acid, or TFA, which is increasingly being detected in the environment, wildlife and people. One study estimates that PFAS pesticide use in California could generate between 185,000 and 616,000 pounds of TFA each year.
Emerging research links TFA to reproductive harm and immune suppression, raising growing concerns about its spread and potential health risks.
A recent analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency noted that 36 PFAS pesticides – 25 of which are registered in California – lack updated developmental and reproductive toxicity tests. Immunotoxicity studies are routinely waived in pesticide applications, despite growing evidence that PFAS chemicals are particularly harmful to the immune system.
“By the time these PFAS residues reach our plates, they have become part of a toxic cocktail that can suppress the immune system and harm reproductive health,” said Varun Subramaniam, EWG science analyst. “That raises serious concerns about the long-term health risks of using these chemicals on food crops.”
“The most troubling part is how little we know about their safety. We’re spraying millions of pounds of chemicals on food without understanding their full health impacts or considering what little we do know. It’s unconscionable,” he added.
California’s agricultural PFAS use means residents of the Golden State get hit twice – through contaminated food and through contaminated water. PFAS pesticides leave residues on fruits and vegetables, and the chemicals leach into groundwater that becomes drinking water.
States leading on regulation
The EPA regulates and approves pesticides for national use, but states aren’t required to follow suit. California operates its own approval system: The state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation must independently evaluate and authorize each chemical before farmers can use it.
That gives California enormous power to protect residents – power the state has largely chosen not to use when it comes to PFAS pesticides.
While California has remained one of the world’s largest users of PFAS pesticides, other jurisdictions have moved to restrict or ban them. In 2023, Maine enacted the nation’s first ban on PFAS pesticides, starting in 2030. In 2023, Minnesota passed a broad ban on nonessential PFAS uses, including pesticides, phasing them out by 2032.
Denmark banned six PFAS pesticide ingredients in 2025. And the EU has prohibited 23 of the PFAS pesticides heavily used in California, including bifenthrin, trifluralin and flufenacet.
AB 1603 would bring California in line with these other states and jurisdictions, making the nation’s “salad bowl” once again a public health leader and helping ensure what we are putting on America’s kitchen table is free from PFAS pesticides.
“California has been a public health bellwether for decades, from car emissions to chemical safety,” said Del Chiaro. “But we've been silent on PFAS pesticides, even though we’ve become one of the biggest users.
“AB 1603 changes that. Within a decade, ‘California Grown’ will mean grown without PFAS pesticides, which is the least we can do for families and communities struggling to contain widespread PFAS contamination in our soil, air, water and food,” she added.
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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
