Forever, Unlimited: Why India sets no limit for PFAS, the 'forever chemicals', why no standard is not the same as no exposure, and how listing them would begin to protect the people who carry them

What are PFAS, and are they in India's water? Is there a limit? And who decided? PFAS, the 'forever chemicals', are the coatings in non-stick pans, stain- and water-repellent fabrics, grease-proof food wrappers and firefighting foam; many break down very slowly and build up in people, animals and the environment. The United States now limits two of them in drinking water to four parts per trillion each, and the European Union limits the sum of 20 to 0.10 µg/L. India sets no limit at all. We verified this instrument by instrument: the national drinking-water standard, the packaged-water regulation, the food contaminants regulation and the Jal Jeevan Mission's testing framework contain no PFAS parameter, and the Central Pollution Control Board told the National Green Tribunal in 2024 that 'there is no standard prescribed for PFAS in drinking water'. Under the Stockholm Convention, India accepts new chemical listings one by one; it has accepted seven, and not PFOS, PFOA or PFHxS. Meanwhile, researchers have found PFAS in seven rivers of southern India, in groundwater in Assam, in sediments of the upper Ganges and Chennai's Cooum, and among 55 PFAS-based pesticides tracked on Indian grapes. Forty-two years after methyl isocyanate escaped a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India still counts chemical harm after it happens: the Supreme Court's record carries three death tolls for that night, from 2,660 to 5,295, and the Act that empowers environmental standards came after the leak, not before it. The paper argues that no standard is not the same as no exposure: a country without a limit records no exceedance, and so produces no evidence that it needs one. It recommends an interim limit, a finished test method, PFAS testing in state laboratories starting where exposure is likely highest, and acceptance of the Stockholm listings, and it sets out every claim with the source read to verify it.