PFAS Forever Chemicals

PFAS is an umbrella term for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of over 5,000 human-made chemicals that have been used in a wide range of consumer products and industrial applications since the 1940s. The carbon-fluorine bonds in PFAS lead to very stable substances, however, this also makes these chemical compounds extremely persistent in the environment and in the human body. This is why they are often referred to as “Forever Chemicals”.

 

The future implications of PFAS for insurance companies are becoming increasingly significant as claims for environmental contamination and exposure harm increase. PFAS litigation is gaining traction globally, and legal action likely will continue to evolve and play a role in shaping policy and public health responses to these persistent chemicals.

 

Liberty’s global Casualty Risk Engineers have studied and tracked PFAS since it emerged as a problem. In our PFAS Trending Topic, our risk engineers highlight what we currently know about these chemicals, and how legislation, regulation and litigation is unfolding around the world. Liberty’s insights are designed to help brokers and clients understand and evaluate the risks that PFAS present.

 

There is still a long way to go before PFAS exposure evaluations are completed. Chemical research studies are a lengthy and complex process with a lot of unknowns and variables. Due to the large number of chemicals that fall under the PFAS family, it may be a long time before we fully understand their impact.

 

The content can be viewed in English, Chinese, Korean or Japanese.

 

View our interactive PFAS experience here.