It’s a first. Seventeen European media have succeeded in mapping the massive dissemination of the so-called PFAS pollutants “eternal”these invisible, odorless but now ubiquitous chemical compounds.
According to the results of “Forever Pollution Project”a collective of 17 media launched by “Le Monde” and Italian, Dutch and German colleagues, 17,000 sites are in total contaminated in Europe (beyond 10 nanograms per liter), including 2,100 at levels dangerous for the environment. healthy (more than 100 nanograms per liter).
Lake Tyrifjord in Norway, the Blue Danube and the huge regions around the basins of chemistry are among the most affected places in Europe. The best-known hot spots in Europe all have PFAS production plants as their “epicenter”. The journalists located twenty production sites, and 230 other factories using PFAS.
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Production is mainly located in Germany, with six locations. In France, there are five factories, those of Arkema and Daikin, south of Lyon, but also of Chemours and Solvay. The survey also identified 21,500 sites “presumed contaminated”in particular around airports, because of the fire-fighting foams regularly used during exercises.
“It proves what we greatly feared: the very significant contamination of very large areas (…) which have centuries of dangerous pollution”reacted François Veillerette, spokesperson for Générations Futures, who calls for “an official excavated inventory” on contamination in France.
“Biggest chemical threat of the 21st century”
Behind the acronym PFAS (pronounced “puff”in English) is a family of synthetic substances (more than 4,700 molecules), developed since the 1940s to resist water and heat.
Endowed with non-stick and waterproof properties, they are massively present in everyday life: Teflon pans, food packaging, textiles, automobiles… Almost indestructible, hence their nickname, they are described by some experts as “the greatest chemical threat of the 21st century” but deemed partly unavoidable by the industry.
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According to studies, exposure to PFAS can have effects on fertility and fetal development. It can also increase the risk of obesity, certain cancers (prostate, kidneys and testicles) and cholesterol. The annual cost to European public health is estimated at between 52 and 84 billion euros, according to a 2019 Norwegian report.
In the United States, the American conglomerate 3M, known for its “Post-its” or its masks, found itself the first in the hot seat. Attacked in court for its American factories and in Belgium, it announced at the end of December that it would stop the production of PFAS by the end of 2025.
Towards a ban?
In Europe, the German, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish health authorities submitted a project to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in mid-January to ban these components, supported by other countries including France. But a possible ban, at the end of the process, would not be implemented until after 2026.
The organization of PFAS producers (the FPP4EU) considers it difficult to do without these substances, boasting of their many properties (resistance, lubrication, durability, etc.) and their central role in sectors such as pharmaceuticals or the automobile.
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For Arkema, the proposed ban in the EU would lead to a ban on “number of fluorinated polymers and fluorinated gases” Who “are at the heart of the ecological and energy transition”believes the industrialist, citing the issues of European sovereignty for batteries, semiconductors, hydrogen, insulation, solar energy, etc.
In France, in mid-January, the consumption of eggs and poultry meat was advised against by the Rhône prefecture after the detection of a high level of PFAS in municipalities close to the Arkema factory near Lyon.
