The widespread belief that “chemistry is invading us” and also poisoning us often remains a simple but disturbing suspicion for the majority of the population. And yet science not only confirms these fears, but also shows that the situation is worse than we thought. Thousands of different substances, utensils, objects, food and all kinds of everyday items are silently hidden, driven by the powerful chemical industry. From there, they pass into our bodies and impair our health.
PFAS are not as well known as they are harmful. These are English abbreviations for compounds called Perfluorinated and Polyfluorinated Substances, which are compounds already known as “eternal pollutants” (forever chemicals) given their practically indestructible nature. Moreover, the problem is that these are not a dozen or two substances, they form a family of at least 4,700 compounds, and according to experts, many are marketed without time for rigorous evaluation. organizations. .
These include toys, cosmetics, raincoats, non-stick pans, pesticides, plastics, paints, personal hygiene items and more. The amount of chemicals in circulation is so great that the industry develops a new one every 1.4 seconds, so it is nearly impossible for the European Union’s regulatory agencies to test or even monitor such a flood of chemicals. It is estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 chemicals are used in the EU and a high percentage can be hazardous.
In the same year, a report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) was published, showing for the first time the global scope of PFAS. In short, the problem is bigger than you think.
According to the study, these eternal pollutants are found in at least 17,000 regions of the European Union, of which more than 2,000 are classified as dangerous to human health. However, the most serious thing is that the pollution in question spreads beyond these places. Expert Carlos de Prada said: “We should not only draw our attention to heavily contaminated spots, because these are substances that can also be found in everyday environments, in commonly used products and articles, or that can reach us, for example, through food.” The director of the Hogar sin Tóxicos campaign is an expert in tackling this type of pollution.
Therefore, these compounds reach human blood. The aforementioned study evaluated the extent to which these PFAS concentrations reach the blood of EU residents. An analysis of adolescents from EU countries found that in some countries, such as France, at least 23.78% of youth analyzed had a blood concentration of PFAS above safety levels. This rate was 23% in Sweden, 18% in Germany and 17% in Norway and Belgium. Spain has a lower rate of 1.34%, but it is no less worrying because it means that more than one in 100 young people have more PFAS in their blood than they should. However, the study evaluated only four of the thousands of PFASs available.
In reality, “most people carry a mixture of chemicals in their blood,” the study says.
So what are the effects on human health? The EWG report reveals that exposure to multiple PFASs can lead to developmental disorders, cardiovascular disease and various cancers. But in addition, how the combination of all these substances affects has not yet been seriously studied.
A UN report published a year ago concluded that chemical contamination could cause more deaths than Covid-19 itself. Its authors called for “urgent and ambitious action” to ban certain toxic substances.
The problem, according to Carlos de Prada, is that the EU has so far restricted substances one by one, but the industry has managed to quickly replace them with other similar ones, thus rendering the existing control system ineffective.
Regardless, even when one of these compounds is considered ‘safe’, it may be discovered after a few years that it is not safe. An example is bisphenol A, which isn’t exactly a PFAS but acts similarly. After decades of use, European authorities now certify that the maximum safety concentration is 100,000 times lower than that in effect since 2015 and 1,250,000 times lower than that set before that year.
But things can change. In April 2022, the European Environment Agency (EEA) decided to reduce its losses and undertake what has been termed “major detoxification”. Spaniard Tatiana Santos, responsible for the field of chemicals at the European Environment Office (EBB), said that the European Commission has opened a “new chapter” on this issue. What will it consist of?
Basically, we are talking about banning hundreds or even thousands of these substances at the same time instead of restricting them one by one, which is completely ineffective. This ban may be on the verge of being implemented by the European Commission after five countries (Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden) submit a joint proposal on this issue.
The proposal was submitted to the competent body, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in early January, and experts from that organization are scheduled to conduct the first assessments this March. But the process is long and can take more than a year. It could be “the largest ever ban on toxic chemicals,” says the European Environment Office.