UK failing to match EU in fight against ‘forever chemicals’, say scientists
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Experts criticise Defra’s decision not to use OECD definition of PFAS, with one asking if move is ‘politically based’. Leading scientists have criticised the UK government for failing to take stronger action to tackle “forever chemical” pollution and refusing to match moves in the EU to ban non-essential uses of the substances.
Last year, 59 experts in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) sent a letter to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) asking it to follow the science, which has established that PFAS do not biodegrade and that despite variations in toxicity, this persistence itself is sufficiently worrying that all PFAS should be regulated as one class.
PFAS pollution is so widespread that the chemicals are thought to be in the blood of almost every human on the planet. Of the more than 10,000 known to be in existence, two are widely banned after decades of scientific study that eventually proved them to be toxic and linked to cancers as well as a range of other serious diseases.
Given the time taken to establish toxicity for just two substances, five EU member states have proposed a group ban, with exemptions for critical uses. Industry lobbying groups are fighting the proposal. Defra responded to the scientists in a letter, seen by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian, setting out their plans for controlling the forever chemicals. These plans fall short of the scientists’ demands.
“Defra has implied time and again … that ‘not all PFAS are harmful’ – which is incorrect in my opinion,” said Prof Ian Cousins, who organised the letter. “I agree that PFAS have a diversity of properties and toxicities, but their extremely high environmental persistence makes all PFAS problematic.”.
