\n<\/p>\n
Regulators measuring \u201cforever chemicals\u201d near a Lancashire chemicals plant are not testing for a substance made by the company itself, despite evidence it could be reprotoxic and is being emitted in large volumes.<\/p>\n
Reprotoxic means a substance can be damaging to a person\u2019s sexual function, fertility, or their child\u2019s development and, now,<\/p>\n
independent sampling has found the substance in soils around the factory.<\/p>\n
Pfas, or forever chemicals, are a large group of manmade substances used in a wide range of consumer products, firefighting foams and industrial processes. They do not break down easily and therefore build up in the environment, water, wildlife and human bodies. Scientists have linked some Pfas (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) <\/strong>to cancers, hormone disruption, immune system effects and other health risks.<\/p>\n AGC Chemicals in Lancashire has been under investigation since the Guardian and Watershed Investigations revealed high levels of a banned carcinogenic Pfas, called PFOA, being discharged from the site into the River Wyre. People living nearby have been told not to eat food from their gardens or allotments, and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) has been found in vegetables. AGC said while levels of Pfas had been detected, there had been no conclusion to the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n The Environment Agency is sampling soils and water around AGC for a range of Pfas \u2013 and has detected some, including PFOA \u2013 but it has ignored a Pfas produced by AGC called EEA-NH4, which is used in the production of chemicals used on non-stick products such as cookware.<\/p>\n In one report on the substance, the agency estimated about 800kg of EEA-NH4 was being emitted into the River Wyre annually. In another it says the chemical is \u201cvery persistent\u201d and \u201cmobile\u201d in the environment, as well as being classified as \u201creprotoxic category 2\u201d. AGC said it had not been determined what, if any, public health risk there might be around the site.<\/p>\n New independent sampling has confirmed the presence of EEA-NH4 in soils around the plant. Dr David Megson, a forensic scientist and Pfas expert who carried out the analysis, said there was \u201ca giant chunk of toxic material\u201d in the environment that regulators were ignoring.<\/p>\n \u201cOur results showed that in addition to PFOA, the soil surrounding the site consistently contains EEA-NH4 and hydrogen-substituted carboxylic acids (H-PFCAs). Less is known about them \u2026 but studies are showing that they have a similar toxicity,\u201d Megson said. \u201cIt is essential to consider them, as any human health risk assessment that does not include these chemicals is likely to underpredict the health risks from Pfas in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>A spokesperson for AGC said effluent from the company\u2019s Hillhouse site was \u2018not having a significant effect\u2019 on protected areas of the Wyre estuary. <\/span> Photograph: Christopher Furlong\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The Environment Agency has said it could only look for Pfas for which an established analytical standard had already been created, and there was not one available for EEA-NH4, but Megson says it is absurd to ignore known Pfas emissions from the site.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me this highlights a key limitation of the current testing regime,\u201d he said. \u201cAny contaminated land investigation should carefully consider the source, receptor and pathway. There are over 7m potential Pfas \u2013 just focusing an assessment on a handful of commonly detected Pfas is not appropriate. Instead it should focus on the specific Pfas that are originating from the source \u2013 this includes EEA-NH4 and H-PFCAs.\u201d<\/p>\n Prof Hans Peter Arp, a Pfas expert at the Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology, said: \u201cConsidering all we know about Pfas \u2013 their persistence, costly clean-up, and emerging hazards \u2013 it remains a shock that there is so little oversight of emissions from production factories.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not just a UK problem but a global one. We need stronger monitoring of total Pfas, not just known substances like EEA-NH4, but residuals too. Citizens, who often bear the health and remediation costs, need to know how much Pfas is being released so polluters can be held responsible and a transition to zero Pfas emissions can begin.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Crispin Halsall, a professor of environmental organic chemistry at Lancaster University, said: \u201cThe Environment Agency should be widening their search and screening for EEA-NH4 and other shorter-chain polyether perfluorocarboxylic acids.\u201d<\/p>\n He said these compounds \u201ccan be relatively easily added to current analytical procedures for Pfas measurements\u201d and including them \u201cwould alter the risk assessment and likely increase the [assessed] risk of harm to humans exposed to Pfas\u201d.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for AGC Chemicals Europe Ltd said the company had \u201ca proud history of manufacturing in Lancashire and sets the highest standards for itself, taking its commitments to the local community and to the environment extremely seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n They noted that while the current multi-agency investigation was focused on PFOA air emissions, AGC had \u201clast year volunteered to commission a third-party assessment of the land it occupies\u201d, covering current and legacy chemicals, with the scope agreed by Wyre council and the Environment Agency. That assessment had now advanced \u201cto intrusive investigations of both soil and water on-site\u201d, with findings due to be shared with authorities early next year.<\/p>\n The spokesperson stressed that the use of EEA-NH4 was authorised under the site\u2019s permit, subject to Reach registration (a EU regulatory procedure), and that the Environment Agency had carried out an independent risk assessment in April 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cAt present it has not been determined what, if any, public health risk there may be,\u201d they said, adding that independent monitoring over four decades showed the company\u2019s Hillhouse site\u2019s effluent was \u201cnot having a significant effect\u201d on protected areas of the Wyre estuary.<\/p>\n An Environment Agency spokesperson said they were working with AGC\u2019s Thornton-Cleveleys site \u201cto ensure ongoing compliance with the requirements of their environmental permit\u201d. They confirmed that, at Wyre Council\u2019s request, the agency was \u201cinvestigating the site and surrounding land for historic contamination unrelated to current operations\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no strong evidence to suggest EAA-NH4 contamination is widely present in land surrounding the site,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Regulators measuring \u201cforever chemicals\u201d near a Lancashire chemicals plant are not testing for a substance made by the company itself, despite evidence it could be reprotoxic and is being emitted in large volumes. Reprotoxic means a substance can be damaging to a person\u2019s sexual function, fertility, or their child\u2019s development and, now, independent sampling has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[2763,17204,17203,2700,1869,1866,1577],"class_list":{"0":"post-29066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-chemicals","9":"tag-lancashire","10":"tag-overlooking","11":"tag-pfas","12":"tag-plant","13":"tag-regulators","14":"tag-toxic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}