How many vegetables can we eat from the vegetable garden? And is the environment healthy for our children? Such questions arise among residents of Chemours in Dordrecht. There is often no clear answer. Too much is still unclear for that.
In brief
- Residents living near Chemours in Dordrecht are concerned about possible health effects of pfas emissions.
- Much about the health consequences is still unclear. Various investigations are still ongoing.
- Some questions from local residents can already be answered, but not all.
Summary made using AI.
A few years ago, residents living near the chemical factory in Dordrecht were able to have their blood tested. The pfas value in their blood was determined. They received the results by letter.
“I haven’t opened the envelope yet,” says a woman from Papendrecht. Fearing the outcome, she left it closed. And: “Because I knew and know: nothing can be done about it.”
She tells this during an information evening organized by the surrounding municipalities on Wednesday.
The intention is that local residents can ask questions. Naturally, these often concern the health risks of the many PFAs (chemical substances that do not break down in the environment or the body) that Chemours has emitted. But many questions cannot yet be answered. Not everything is clear yet.
Chemours and pfas
- Chemours established a factory in Dordrecht in the late 1950s. The company was then still called DuPont.
- The factory makes all kinds of products that require chemicals. Think of Teflon and raincoats, but also medical instruments.
- Chemours emits PFAs during production. These emissions were particularly high until the turn of the century.
- Pfas is a collective name for all kinds of non-degradable substances that are bad for the environment and health.
RIVM is conducting further research
It is now known that people who live close to the factory should not eat vegetables from the vegetable garden. Vegetable gardens that are further away can be eaten occasionally. But what about fruit and vegetables from professional nurseries? And the milk from cows grazing on the nearby meadows?
The RIVM is conducting further research into this. But the results will have to wait a while. Not many people can carry out this research, says Ruud Hakkeling, soil expert at the environmental service. “And it takes a lot of time and is very expensive.”
The experts cannot yet provide more than some advice and a line of thought. “Eat varied and not always from the same farmer,” Hakkeling advises.
Henk Klapwijk, doctor of medical environmental science, explains that PFAs can contribute to various types of cancer and reduced functioning of the immune system. But to what extent is not yet clear.
A little further on, a man from Bleskensgraaf is talking to someone from the GGD. He says that he regularly eats fruit and nuts from his orchard. “My father did that too and he became seriously ill. Thyroid problems, although a connection is not certain. I have been eating from that piece of land for years. But should I stop? And if not, how often can I eat from it? “
The GGD employee doesn’t have the answer either. She writes the question down and comes back to it later.
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Legacy from decades ago
What also makes the Chemours issue difficult is that it concerns a “legacy from sixty to twenty years ago”, Hakkeling explains. For decades, Chemours has used and emitted the substance PFOA.
These high emissions came to an end around the turn of the century. Since 2012, Chemours no longer uses PFOA at all. GenX has been replaced: less harmful than PFOA, but not harmless.
But the PFOA stop has not resolved the damage caused by years of emissions. The chemical is everywhere: in the soil, in the water and yes, also in the bodies of local residents.
The judge has now ruled that Chemours is liable for the environmental damage caused by PFOA emissions between 1984 and 1998. Chemours knew about the harmful effects of the substance and did not communicate enough about it. It is not yet clear what exactly the compensation will look like.
Job van der Plicht is a domestic reporter
Job writes a lot about farmers in the nitrogen file. He also made Torn apart by the wolf: a podcast about the return of the wolf. Read more stories from Job here.
Ornamental garden instead of vegetable garden
The woman from Papendrecht feels “deceived” by Chemours. “I have lived in the same house all my life, 1 kilometer from the factory. I am angry that Chemours has kept quiet about the harmful consequences for all these years. It feels like they are still not being honest. And that will not be okay anymore. “It took too long for that.”
She had a vegetable garden on the farm where she lives. She turned it into an ornamental garden a year ago. It was not recommended to eat out any longer. “It’s a shame, but hopefully we will receive less pfas as a result,” she says.
But what effect does it have exactly? And how much risk has she been running all these years? That remains unclear. “It’s a very bad feeling. We have created something in fifty years that will never go away,” Hakkeling concludes.
2023-12-14 04:04:00
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