Have you heard of PFAS? Maybe not, but you probably have heard of forever chemicals. They are human-made chemicals that are extremely difficult to break down in the environment, hence, “forever” chemicals.
Not only do these chemicals last a long time, but they can also cause serious health problems. As more research on their health effects has come to light, more rules and laws have been created to try and control these PFAS.
And now, the RV industry is finding itself in the heart of the forever chemical situation. Does your RV contain forever chemicals? And if so, can these PFAS hurt you?
RV forever chemicals inside
PFAS are Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances. They’re nothing new—they’ve been around for decades. You may find them in your closet if you own water-repellent clothing. Maybe you brought them home the other night when nobody wanted to cook, so you got a pizza. The stuff that makes pizza grease not soak through the box is another form of PFAS. If you watched a news film where firefighters blasted foam on a plane crash—well, that foam contains PFAS.
What about your RV? Where would you find forever chemicals? Open the door, step inside. Your feet may have had a PFAS encounter when they hit the carpet. Sit down on the couch to look around. Your RV furniture may have forever chemicals, particularly if treated with a “non-stain” product. Even non-stain textiles may have a PFAS component.
Back in the bedroom, the mattress may have been treated with a fire retardant—and many of these contain PFAS. Up top-side, your solar panels may have been treated with PFAS to make them less reflective, to absorb solar rays better. Forever chemicals are also used in many adhesives, and RVs have plenty of those.
Industry concerned because lawmakers are taking notice
It doesn’t take much imagination to see that forever chemicals are probably in everyone’s RV. And the RV industry is getting mighty concerned about it because lawmakers are taking notice. The RV Industry Association (RVIA) says it expects more state and federal legislation in 2025 that will affect RV manufacturers. Already RV builders have been hit with reporting requirements and soon will see states that ban some of the forever chemicals they use regularly.
In 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency trotted out a rule requiring that manufacturers and importers of both PFAS and items containing PFAS must report these to the agency. The rule requires reporting of PFAS going back to 2011. For the RV industry, record-keeping and reporting amounts to a simple headache. But the RVIA is looking at a migraine next year: At least one state will ban the sale of PFAS or articles containing PFAS in 2025.
Minnesota—RVIA’s biggest headache
Minnesota is the RVIA’s state of greatest concern. Starting in January 2025, any RVs that include intentionally added PFAS (within 11 specific categories like carpets and upholstered furniture) can no longer be sold in Minnesota. This creates a major issue for RV builders. Do manufacturers set up separate production lines to build RVs destined for Minnesota dealers? Do they go “whole hog” and cut out PFAs from all their rigs? Or do they simply write off Minnesota as a loss, and no longer ship to the North Star State?
RV manufacturers have a “bright spot” in the forever chemical debacle. While California, long seen as a health- and ecology-conscious state, does have PFAS restrictions, it provides specific exemptions for certain products used in motor vehicles. The RVIA is quick to point out that all RVs, motorized or not, meet the description of “motor vehicles.” And industry lobbyists have been busy over on the other side of the country.
The RVIA writes [2-pg. pdf]: “In 2023, Maine enacted a new law aimed at preventing pollution from PFAS. This law initially followed stringent guidelines similar to those in Minnesota. However, by educating the legislature and collaborating with the RV Industry Association’s coalition partners, a more favorable outcome was achieved for the RV industry.
“The Maine law exempts motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment regulated under a federal motor vehicle safety standard. Since RVs are motor vehicles that are regulated by certain federal motor vehicle safety standards, manufacturers of both towable and motorized RVs are generally exempt from the reporting and prohibition requirements under this law.”
While this “more favorable outcome” will help RV manufacturers shipping to Maine, apparently their lobbying efforts weren’t so successful in the Midwest. With Minnesota on the “No PFAS” list, it still leaves manufacturers hung up. Even if something spectacular were to happen, say Minnesota suddenly decided that RVs were exempt from the strict PFAS ban, where will it leave you, the consumer?
Forever chemicals and your health
Just what health issues are associated with PFAS? Studies have linked forever chemicals with a range of health problems. Some of them include thyroid disease, cancer, high cholesterol, obesity, and ill effects on the immune system. Typically, people take in PFAS through ingestion, commonly in drinking water. That makes PFAS, as forever chemicals, a real issue—not just for today, but for future generations.
Some are quick to point out that most RVers don’t drink water from their dinette cushions, nor lick it up from the carpet. However, a recent study showed for the first time that some forever chemicals can be absorbed through the skin, with contact.
Perhaps of greater concern for taking on an unwelcome dose of PFAS has to do with RVing, but not their manufacture. A federal survey found that 45% of public water supplies show levels of forever chemicals. The same is probably true for private water supplies. As you travel in your RV, you run a fair chance of connecting your fresh water supply intake to a source that contains PFAS.
How can you reduce your risk of getting PFAS in your drinking water? Consumer advocacy group Consumer Reports found some counter-mounted filter systems that can remove PFAS from water. They can be expensive, and not necessarily advantageous for all RVs. They also tested and approved a pitcher-style water filter that will filter out PFAS. Not too expensive, $35 for the initial purchase, but it will set you back about $80 a year for filters. Here are some on Amazon.
The handwriting is on the wall
For RV manufacturers, the handwriting is on the wall. Despite the industry’s best lobbying efforts, it would seem the future is one of developing RVs without forever chemicals in the mix. The sooner the industry cuts PFAS from all rigs they build, the sooner they’ll be able to stop worrying about which states allow forever chemicals, and which don’t. RVers will be better off for it.
##RVT1176b
Here comes the foot dragging and the high priced lawyers in tow from the RV industry. If they won’t simply build quality RV’s free of known over the road safety defects and to Lemon Law standards what are the chances of them addressing this issue? NONE they will simply do what they always do- LAWYER UP.
Thank you, Russ and Tiña! 🙂 This is the first that I have heard of any of this, thank you for educating me! 🙂 Have a great weekend, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
The chemicals in drinking water are from what the farmers put on thier crops. Business are only concerned about thier profits.
Instead of addressing the issues to assure we are all safe there is a “plan” that will be put in place to eliminate the EPA. It will only get worse.
You got it. The old saying “never drink downstream from the herd” applies everywhere now.
The PFAS in farm fertilizers is from those made from urban sewage. This waste is also the source of most lawn & garden fertilizer. People all over are contaminating the soil by using these fertilizers. Also imagine the impact when these big metro areas’ “accidently” discharge this waste directly into rivers and streams! Near LaCrosse, WI the source was the products sprayed on airplanes and fire foams. Net, there are many sources impacting ground water, not just unknowingly by farmers using EPA approved fertilizer sources, as in this NPR story:
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/28/1241473455/pfas-forever-chemicals-could-be-contaminating-millions-of-acres-of-farmland
Yep, I’m convinced that if I stay around long enough, life is gonna kill me.
Wikipedia as a source? Here’s a compilation of studies from American Council and Science and Health. The results are mixed so not conclusive but that won’t stop fear and misinformation from spreading.
All cancer deaths – 5 studies, all negative. Prostate cancer – 9 studies, 3 positive, 6 negative. Kidney cancer – 6 studies – 2 positive, 4 negative. Pancreatic cancer – 6 studies, all negative. Bladder cancer – 6 studies, all negative. Lung cancer – 3 studies, all negative. Breast cancer – 6 studies, 2 positive, 4 negative. Liver cancer – 4 studies, all negative. Testicular cancer – 2 studies, both positive
Larry, don’t confuse us with facts!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Simple way to address your drinking water. Distilling water removes PFAS. Also I would not push too hard on the farmers. They don’t use chemicals for the fun of it. You know why.
Do you have a source for that? I thought PFAS were at least somewhat volatile, which would mean they would boil off early and condense early remaining in the distillate unless you vented the early stages of the process. I think activated carbon will remove them.
Teflon was the big one. Stick free skillets for several decades. OK for low or medium heat, but high heat would release the PFAs.
The RV industry will use materials that are generally available to the construction and housing industry. Carpet for housing, glues for industry, fabrics for normal furniture, etc. I highly doubt they will pay for development of anything new, so they will use whatever is generally available, and cheap. If none of those are available PFAS free, they will keep doing what they have been.
Side note: The picture of the Minnesota state seal is dated. Both the flag and state seal were changed in July of this year. Don’t get me going on that one!
“long seen as a health- and ecology-conscious state”. Really?? Where do we return our water bottles? A state where the locals take the dog for a walk, put the poop in a plastic bag, then leave the bag behind the cactus.
What planet do manufacturing companies go to to get these chemicals that are not found naturally here on earth?
I am now 14 years older than my dad was when he died. And I have a mother and 5 aunties over 100 years!
The world is full of chicken littles.
I’m happy to hear that many in your family are living long lives, that’s a blessing for sure. But respectfully sir, the group you’re using to justify your opinion has eight people, not exactly a gold standard for research. And the “forever” chemicals being discussed are not naturally occurring, they are man-made compounds that never break down once compounded. Having said that, even naturally occurring elements can be fatal. I think we can probably agree that drinking a glass of mercury or eating a uranium sandwich is not a good idea.
And I think we can probably agree “the world is full of chicken littles”.
Thanks for discussing this issue. Hopefully we will see a phaseout of the “forever chemicals” and even some way to neutralize them. I did recently read about someone claiming they had discoved a neutralizing agent- hopefully it works. But, if not, hopefully there will be incentives for research in this area.
Good article by Russ and Tina. However, they use RVIA as a source of some content and responses to gov’t actions in the article. It should be pointed out that RVIA is solely for the industry/Mfgs., not the end consumer. They do absolutely zero to help the unknowing public buy a new RV with any level of confidence they are buying a safer RV.
20 years ago it was formaldehyde off-gassing out of carpet, plywood and other various building materials, now it’s PFAS. And just about ANYTHING comes with a label that states; This product can expose you to (name of chemical), which is known to the State of California to cause cancer.
Which I pay no attention to.
By the way… Did you know that living is hazardous to your health!!!
So funny to see this article today, because my wife and I just watched “Dark Waters” on Netflix two nights ago. I’d highly recommend watching if you’re interested in the topic, want to see how it all got started, and how a giant transglobal corporation can easily lawyer up for decades.
So what do current owners do?
Nothing.
Interesting. I’ve been exposed to every form of PFAS since the 60s, having lived next door to Aerojet General ( Northern CA) where my Dad worked, then the South Bay, Redondo Beach, my Dad worked at TRW aerospace. We moved to Colorado my senior year and several of my jobs before the Navy involved Rocky Flats.
I spent 20 years in the Navy as a steam engineer. Loads of PFAS there. I’ve been retired from that now since ’95. I get tested and evaluated annually by the the VA. At this point, my 60% disability rating is due to broken bones, hearing loss and a throat ulcer.
Nothing directly linked to PFAS.
Another forever chemical never discussed is the black used in charcoal grills. Copper Chromite black. It will slowly break down with heat and moisture releasing cancer causing Cr6+. Drips down onto your food. Stay away from black grills. Only grill out in stainless steel grills.
Stop licking your solar panels to clean them. Don’t wash your face with the dirty side of carpet shampoo water. Stop eating the cheese paper from your In-n-Out burger wrappers. Don’t clean your gold dust with mercury. Don’t cook fish over a burning sofa cushion and don’t test the power receptacle with a fork.
What a load of Bull… if you’re genetically deficient maybe your parents should not be breeding…🎭🥳🎭🎉🎭🎊🎭