The greatest chemical threat of the 21st century
What do EU competition head Margrethe Vestager, former Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans and EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevi?ius have in common (aside from their place of work)? They all have traces of PFAS chemicals in their blood.
As part of a campaign to ban the use of these chemicals across the EU, this year 16 politicians underwent testing. Not only were they found to have at least seven types of toxic PFAS in their blood, in five cases, the amount "exceeded existing safety threshold levels."
PFAS, short for poly and perfluoroalkyl substances, is a class of chemical that's been in use since the 1940s and used in thousands of products from textiles to nonstick pans to cosmetics to fire-fighting foam to food packaging, and more.?
These chemicals have become better known by their more recent name "forever chemicals" because it takes thousands of years to break them down. Not only are they bad for the environment, certain PFAS chemicals have been linked to extreme health conditions including cancer and birth defects.
Our reporter Si?n Geschwindt took a deep dive into this issue to find out what's preventing an EU-wide ban and some of the startups introducing new solutions and alternatives
What else we’re writing about
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