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CFC replacements behind hundreds of thousands of tonnes of global 'forever chemical' pollution
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/cfc-replacements-behind-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tonnes-of-global-forever-chemical-pollution4 February 2026 14:01
Chemicals brought in to help protect our ozone layer have had the unintended consequences of spreading vast quantities of a potentially toxic ‘forever chemical’ around the globe, a new study shows.
Atmospheric scientists, led by researchers at Lancaster University, have for the first time calculated that CFC replacement chemicals and anaesthetics are behind around a third of a million tonnes (335,500 tonnes) of a persistent forever chemical called trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) being deposited from the atmosphere across the Earth’s surface between the years 2000 and 2022.
And the rate of TFA entering the environment from these sources is continuing to grow as some of these CFC replacements survive for decades in our atmosphere, with peak annual TFA production from these sources estimated to be anywhere from between 2025 and 2100.
Scientists behind the new study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, used ‘chemical transport’ modelling, which simulates how chemicals move about and change in the atmosphere.
…
Hart, L., Hossaini, R., Wild, O., Mazzeo, A., Halsall, C., Hou, X., et al. (2026). Growth in production and environmental deposition of Trifluoroacetic acid due to long-lived CFC replacements and anesthetics. Geophysical Research Letters, 53, e2025GL119216. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL119216
❝The rising levels of TFA from F-gases is striking. Although HFC use is gradually being phased down, this TFA source will remain with us for decades. There’s an urgent need to understand other TFA sources and to assess TFA’s environmental impacts.❞
— Professor Ryan Hossaini
Chemicals brought in to help protect our ozone layer have had the unintended consequences of spreading vast quantities of a potentially toxic ‘forever chemical’ around the globe, a new study shows.
Atmospheric scientists, led by researchers at Lancaster University, have for the first time calculated that CFC replacement chemicals and anaesthetics are behind around a third of a million tonnes (335,500 tonnes) of a persistent forever chemical called trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) being deposited from the atmosphere across the Earth’s surface between the years 2000 and 2022.
And the rate of TFA entering the environment from these sources is continuing to grow as some of these CFC replacements survive for decades in our atmosphere, with peak annual TFA production from these sources estimated to be anywhere from between 2025 and 2100.
Scientists behind the new study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, used ‘chemical transport’ modelling, which simulates how chemicals move about and change in the atmosphere.
…
