World Bank | How Forever Chemicals are Impacting International Trade

Forever chemicals can pose serious environmental and health risks, but they are also fast becoming a challenge in international trade, resulting in import bans and customs delays. Countries risk being excluded from global value chains, unless they can adapt to a growing patchwork of emerging regulations and standards. At the center of this challenge is testing and measurement capacity: PFAS-compliance is only as credible as a country’s ability to detect them.

The impacts for society are potentially wide-ranging, not just for people’s health and well-being, but for the broader economy. Businesses and firms can face challenges expanding, thus hindering job creation and better opportunities for people. Addressing PFAS is complex because they are found in everyday products, from clothing, cookware and cosmetics to cleaning products, electronics and food.

In industries that rely intensively on PFAS, exports also generate a “double pollution” effect: PFAS are embedded in products shipped abroad, while being simultaneously released into domestic soil and water through manufacturing sites or wastewater treatment plants, creating aligned incentives for exporting and importing jurisdictions to act.

The impacts on people’s health can be significant. Long-term exposure to PFAS is linked to hormone disruption, immune-system effects, liver and heart impacts and certain cancers. As such, major economies are rapidly tightening controls around forever chemicals.

Some countries are setting bans on certain products and limiting access to potentially contaminated drinking-water. For example, the European Union (EU) limits PFAS residues in food and food packaging materials, and will soon introduce one of the world’s broadest PFAS bans under its Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation. Other large economies such as Australia, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and China are following suit.

A recent EU study found that current levels of pollution due to PFAS could cost the EU approximately EUR 440 billion by 2050. These costs far exceed the value added that is generated by the production and use of PFAS, and are borne domestically. Yet, in many countries, these challenges remain unaddressed, slowing investment in PFAS-free alternatives and testing and enforcement capacity.

For exporters, this rapidly evolving patchwork of different regulations is more than a technicality – they are market access requirements. To remain competitive in international trade, industry sectors in high-income countries are taking action to identify, mitigate and prevent PFAS-related risks in their supply chains.

As consumer awareness grows, products with third-party verified “PFAS-free” labels will gain a competitive advantage in the market, further adding to the complexity. Together, these new standards and regulations are reshaping global supply chains and setting new market access conditions. The 2025 World Development Report on “Standards for Development” argues that, without action, developing countries will be unable to participate and risk losing out on export opportunities.

Countries would benefit from starting to develop their own robust PFAS regulations, using international standards where available and possible to address industrial pollution and protect human health – but also to avoid imports of waste contaminated by PFAS. A major constraint, however, is access to credible testing and verification services to demonstrate compliance with new PFAS standards.

Thousands of PFAS compounds are under scrutiny, and even advanced laboratories can test only a limited subset of them using methods that are still evolving and not fully harmonized across jurisdictions. This challenge is amplified by the extreme sensitivity required for the detection of PFAS. Many regulatory thresholds are set at parts per billion—levels comparable to finding a single drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Detecting PFAS requires specialized equipment, skilled technicians, and rigorously accredited laboratories, which remain scarce even in advanced economies and largely absent in most developing ones.

The majority of developing economies with exports high in PFAS have limited capacity to detect them. Export requirements create demand for testing, documentation, and traceability—often drawing on the same laboratories and inspection bodies that support domestic food safety, water quality monitoring, and environmental protection. Overstretching these systems can disrupt both trade and environmental monitoring and public health.

PFAS are used across almost all sectors of the economy—from pharmaceuticals and medical devices to aviation, electronics, and automotive manufacturing. Many countries have a high level of dependence on PFAS-sensitive exports, and these products account for a sizeable share of total exports and GDP. As the chart above illustrates, several economies with high exposure to PFAS-sensitive exports—such as Viet Nam, Malaysia, Taiwan (China), and Thailand—also operate with relatively limited accredited chemical testing capacity, while advanced economies tend to cluster toward higher laboratory availability.

Forever chemicals are frequently present where firms least expect them—embedded in coatings, electronics, or packaging materials rather than final products. Firms would do well to monitor regulatory developments, assess risks related to PFAS across their entire supply chain, and invest in traceability and reporting systems to document compliance.

Trade can act as a “blessing in disguise” in addressing market access and public health concerns around PFAS. Investments in building detection capacity can help preserve market access and bring about public health benefits. However, this cannot be addressed through narrowly targeted, export-specific measures alone – it requires a coherent and strategic whole-of-government approach.

Closer integration of policy approaches across different sectors such as trade, health, the environment, and industrial policy can play a key role in addressing the PFAS challenge, ultimately boosting trade and export opportunities and improving people’s lives.