{"id":846,"date":"2025-07-31T19:31:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T19:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mississaugaoffice.com\/?p=846"},"modified":"2025-08-05T21:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T21:07:15","slug":"is-acid-rain-is-back-on-our-2025-apocalypse-bingo-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mississaugaoffice.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/31\/is-acid-rain-is-back-on-our-2025-apocalypse-bingo-card\/","title":{"rendered":"Is acid rain is back on our 2025 apocalypse bingo card?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A chemical that has been around for decades is increasingly popping up in rain (Picture: Shutterstock\/Sven Hansche)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You remember acid rain<\/a>, right?<\/p>\n

Acid rain, like holes in the ozone layer, was a phrase that almost everyone knew from the 1970s to the 2000s.<\/p>\n

People had images of taking out their umbrellas only to see the fabric melt away and their clothes not long after<\/a> – not something you want to sing in.<\/p>\n

While it wasn’t quite that, acid rain makes wetlands more acidic, which is lethal to some fish; leaches nutrients from the soil, killing plants and gnaws at stone buildings and sculptures.<\/p>\n

Humanity got a rare environmental win when, after decades of work (and convincing) by scientists, European and North American officials acted to curb emissions and mostly put a stop to acid rain.<\/p>\n

But acid rain is back (kind of), an expert told Metro<\/strong>, after a chemical has shown up in lakes, rivers, bottled water, beer and even human urine.<\/p>\n

What is acid rain?<\/h2>\n
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Acid rain can make rivers lethal to fish (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The precipitation is caused by fossil-fuel-burning power plants and vehicles pumping out sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen.<\/p>\n

The pollution mingles with water vapour up in the clouds<\/a> to create toxic, corrosive acid.<\/p>\n

Acid rain can happen far away from sources of emissions as the wind blows away the gases – acid rain in Japan has been traced back to China<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There’s a new acid in our rain<\/h2>\n

Scientists have observed over the last few decades that, whenever it rains, the human-made chemical trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) falls with it.<\/p>\n

TFA has been found in Canadian ice, Danish groundwater, British rivers and even Austrian cereal<\/a>, with Germany seeing a fivefold increase in TFA levels in rain since the 1990s.<\/p>\n

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TFA can enter rainfall through gases churned out by air-con (Picture: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TFA is used to make blowing agents, like the foam and plastic in packaging materials, as well as pesticides and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n

But environmental experts like Rowan Stanforth know it as a ‘forever chemical’, or a PFAS, because it takes hundreds of years to break down.<\/p>\n

‘Scientists now believe that TFA is the most abundant PFAS pollutant in the world thanks to widespread use and environmental pollution of PFAS,’ Stanforth, a project officer at the antipollution charity, Fidra, told Metro<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

TFA is a tiny, wily and agile chemical, easily able to enter waterways and swim around them after being coughed out from industrial discharges.<\/p>\n

In June, Firda worked with researchers from the University of York to analyse <\/a>32 UK rivers for TFA – just one was not contaminated.<\/p>\n

The chemical sneaks into rain through the gases used in air-conditioner units, refrigerators and insulation foam, said Stanforth.<\/p>\n

‘The prevalence of TFA in rainfall is a worrying illustration of how far this PFAS can spread and the global problem we are facing,’ Stanforth added.<\/p>\n

Is it anything to worry about?<\/h2>\n
\n
\n\t\t\"Acid\t<\/div>
A forest on Mt. Mitchell in western North Carolina worn down by acid rain (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, there’s a lot of TFA around us right now, apparently. Should we be worried?<\/p>\n

Like with other PFAS, how much of a risk, if any, TFA is unclear. Scientists have been debating for decades about how harmful the tiny molecule is, with some saying it’s about as ‘toxic as table salt’. <\/p>\n

While German scientists say that TFA is toxic for reproduction and harmful to the environment<\/a>, calling on EU officials to label it a toxin.<\/p>\n

European scientists wrote in a paper <\/a>last year that what worries them isn’t so much what we do know, it’s what we don’t know, especially as TFA concentrations continue to rise.<\/p>\n

The increase could pose a threat to ‘planetary boundaries’, natural processes that must be kept in balance<\/a> to keep Earth habitable, causing ‘potential irreversible disruptive impacts’.<\/p>\n

‘The troubling reality is that we are still learning about the possible effects of TFA on people and wildlife – after we\u2019re already being exposed to it daily,’ said Stanforth.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"River\t<\/div>
The River Blyth flowing through Halesworth, Suffolk, was found to contain TFA by researchers (Picture: Universal Images Group Editorial)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘The current levels of TFA pollution in the environment are unprecedented for any PFAS. <\/p>\n

‘We do not know the impact of long-term and consistent exposure to these chemicals on human or environmental health, but we do know that these chemicals are persistent and rapidly building in our environment.’<\/p>\n

There aren’t any rules or regulations in place to identify and reduce the concentrations of TFA in the environment or water supplies in the UK.<\/p>\n

The Drinking Water Inspectorate, which monitors drinking water quality, has commissioned research into the TFA in our taps. Environmental and health and safety officials are involved in the programme.<\/p>\n

But Stanforth added that there’s no easy way to remove TFA from the environment – you can’t just run the water through a sieve. <\/p>\n

‘We must stop the introduction of these harmful chemicals at the source,’ he said. ‘Every day of delay locks in decades of pollution and environmental harm.’<\/p>\n

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Many UK rivers contain the acid(Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Officials need to regulate so-called forever chemicals, added Dr Anna Watson at CHEM Trust<\/a>, a charity working to prevent synthetic chemicals from causing long term damage to wildlife and humans.<\/p>\n

‘The good news is that we can deal with this problem by implementing a broad restriction on PFAS in products and pesticides,’ she told Metro<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

‘This will encourage\u00a0their phase out\u00a0from our environment and economy and enable the innovation and\u00a0use of safer alternatives, allowing a truly clean transition to a zero-pollution low-carbon economy.’<\/p>\n

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement to Metro<\/strong>: ‘Drinking water must not contain any substance at a level which would constitute a potential danger to human health. If Trifluoroacetic acid were detected in drinking water, companies should take action in the same way as for other PFAS compounds.<\/p>\n

‘We continue to work closely across government and with regulators and the devolved administrations to assess levels of so-called forever chemicals occurring in the environment, their sources, and potential risks.’<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


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