‘Forever chemicals’ widespread in European waters: report

COPENHAGEN: Contamination of so-called forever chemicals in European waters often exceeds regulatory thresholds set to reduce potential risks to human health and the environment, the EU´s environment agency warned on Tuesday.

Presenting an overview of the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- often called forever chemicals -- the European Environment Agency (EEA) said perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), which was banned in 2019, was found “throughout European waters.”

“We have a problem with PFOS which is both persistent and widespread,” Nadia Cerioli, an expert with EEA, told AFP.

Between 2018 and 2022, depending on the sites for which data are available, 51 to 60 percent of rivers, 11 to 35 percent of lakes and 47 to 100 percent of coastal waters exceeded environmental quality standards for PFOS, according to the report Cerioli co-authored.

The report, the first inventory in Europe, collated data on reported concentrations of PFOS, one of the two most widespread PFAS, which is classified as a “possible carcinogen” by the World Health Organisation.

Reported on a voluntary basis, the data collected by the EEA does not offer a complete overview because not all of its member states -- which include several non-EU countries -- report them.

In Belgium, France and Iceland, 100 percent of reported water bodies had levels exceeding quality standards, while five countries (Spain, Ireland, Poland, Croatia and Estonia) reported levels exceeding the threshold in less than 20 percent of sites.