Study finds harmful PFAS don’t actually prevent furniture stains

Read the full story from the Green Science Policy Institute.

The health and environmental harms of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are well-known, but a new peer-reviewed study calls into question their touted stain-fighting benefits. The study, published today in the AATCC Journal of Research, tested the performance of PFAS finishings on furniture fabrics and found that they had limited to no effectiveness, particularly under real-world conditions.

“It was surprising that these harmful but supposedly indispensable chemicals had no practical benefit,” said lead author Jonas LaPier, a PhD candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. “It makes you wonder what other uses of PFAS are also unnecessary and could be easily eliminated from products without noticeable change in performance”