In Italy there is no law that prohibits the production and use of PFAS but they pollute and kill
Are vegetables watered with the waters of the Po safe? The question is not as bizarre as it would seem because the Po was found to be more polluted with PFAS than the Seine, the Thames and even the Danube which from a general perspective is the most polluted river in Europe. PFAS are chemicals used as components for the most common uses in utensils, such as non-stick cookwarefurnishing products, cosmetics, clothing, fabrics, packaging materials, products from the rubber industry, electronics, plastics, paper mills and lubricants.
PFAS refers to approximately 5000 industrial chemical substances, commonly used for their great water-repellent properties, molecular stability and resistance to high temperatures. There are already many alternatives to the use of PFAS but the industry continues to use them.
In December last year, however, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (AIRC) declared some PFAS carcinogenic, intervening on two groups, namely PFOA and PFOS: the former went from being considered “possibly carcinogenic” to “certainly carcinogenic”. carcinogenic” to humans. Vicenza is one of the European areas most polluted by PFAS. And they are also in the air because the majority of these products, when they become waste, are burned and PFAS end up being breathed in.
For this reason, in these hours, Greenpeace has launched a mega campaign to ask the Italian government to ban their use with a law that prohibits further industrial production and their diffusion. Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have submitted a proposal to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for the restriction of production, placing on the market and use.
PFAS enter the human body mainly through the ingestion of drinking water, food, contact with surfaces, contaminated soils and inhalation of dust and air with their presence. PFAS are endocrine disruptors, that is, when they enter our human body they interfere with the functioning of hormones. It takes a long time to expel them from ours, about 4-5 years, if we succeed and in time. They manifest themselves with the organism which can produce tumor forms, infertility, mortality from some cardiovascular pathologies, prenatal mortality, high cholesterol or also causing a reduced immune response, thus compromising the functions of the human organism.
The picture is worrying all over the world. In March 2023 The Guardian reported how Belgium would be the country with the highest levels of PFAS pollution, found in groundwater in concentrations of up to 73 million ng/l, around the PFAS production site of the American company 3M, in Zwijndrecht, Flanders.
People living within 15km of the site have been told not to eat eggs laid in their gardens and to avoid home-grown vegetables. Meanwhile, 70,000 people living within a 5km radius of the plant have been offered a blood test to check for PFAS. Similar scenario with other manufacturers in the UK and New Netherlands.
Chemical companies are primarily responsible for polluting water and putting PFAS into the air.
Subscribe to the newsletter