More than 90 percent of the surveyed residents of the chemical company 3M in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, have excessively high pfas values in the body. 59 percent of these people are at risk of getting sick, according to a blood test by the Flemish agency Care and health.
This summer, an environmental scandal arose in Belgium when the pfos substance was excavated during road works near the industrial estate near Antwerp. Pfos belongs to the chemical pfas family and is harmful to health because it cannot be broken down.
The scandal was a reason for the Flemish government to conduct an investigation into pfas values among local residents. Nearly 800 people living within 2 miles of 3M were surveyed. “It is clear that the exposure to pfos has a source and that that source lies with 3M,” says the Flemish Minister for Public Health Beke.
The Flemish government demands that 3M provide guarantees that the health of local residents will not be further endangered. If the company is unable to provide this warranty within two days, the factory will have to close temporarily.
Measures are needed
“The exposure bucket is full,” says Bart Bautmans of the Flemish health agency. “Measures are needed to stop emissions from various sources to the environment so that the concentration in the blood can decrease.”
Local residents are advised not to drink water from their own well or to use it for watering vegetables. In addition, it is also advised not to eat eggs from your own chickens. This advice is especially given to the elderly, young children and pregnant women. The experts say that it is difficult to lower the pfas values because it cannot be broken down.
Zeeland
Concerns also arose in Zeeland this summer, because the harmful substances also end up there via the Scheldt. According to the experts from Care and Health, their research says very little about the possible risks in Zeeland. The research focused on pfas substances that were stored in the ground, for example.
According to the experts, Zeeland is too far away to be exposed to these specific pfas substances. It is currently being examined to what extent Zeelanders are exposed to pfas dat enters the Netherlands via the Scheldt.
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