Unaffordable
The absurd cost of 'PFAS as usual'
Cost estimates:
Ali Ling / University of St. Thomas, School of Engineering, US
Hans Peter Arp / Norwegian University of Science and Technology -
Norwegian Geotechnical Institute
Raphaëlle Aubert / Le Monde
Eurydice Bersi / Reporters United
Text: Eurydice Bersi / Reporters United
Illustration: Georgina Choleva / Spoovio
Web Design: Dafni Karavola / Reporters United, Spoovio
Eighty years ago, scientists did not know how to manufacture PFAS. Now, we cannot get rid of them.
Almost every PFAS molecule ever synthesised is still out there. Some do break down –
but into new PFAS.
These “Forever Chemicals” are in the soil, in raindrops, in our
food, in our blood. They can cause cancers, hormone and immune disruption, and much more.
PFAS are man-made chemicals emitted into the environment from factories that produce or use them in
their industrial processes.
They are discharged directly into water streams.
PFAS pollution from
smokestacks ends up in the soil.
Industrial waste containing PFAS is often landfilled.
PFAS enter the human body through food, air, and skin.
Some remain in our bodies and can damage our health. Some are expelled and end up in wastewater.
Every fire ever extinguished using PFAS foams and every firefighting drill that has ever sprayed
these foams have released PFAS into the environment.
They are still there.
These chemicals hide in soil and buildings, their contamination gradually affecting
surrounding waters, ecosystems, and human populations.
Many everyday products contain PFAS. Waste eventually decomposes, but the PFAS do not.
They leach out of landfills to pollute groundwater and rivers. Gasses emitted by landfills also
contain PFAS.
To this day, in many parts of Europe, PFAS are spread directly onto fields in at least four ways:
1. Pesticides with PFAS are sprayed onto crops.
2. Sewage sludge not checked for PFAS is used as fertiliser.
3. Reclaimed water from wastewater treatment plants not checked for PFAS is used for irrigation.
4. Tiny droplets containing PFAS are suspended in the air and come down as rain.
The chemical industry has known about PFAS hazards for seven decades.
When it started facing
legal and regulatory threats and could no longer hold on to the first generation of PFAS,
it created smaller PFAS that are just as indestructible and even more mobile.
They are now found everywhere, especially in plants and water – and they accumulate fast. This is
called "regrettable substitution".
No wonder PFAS end up on our plate, in rising concentrations, that will continue rising unless PFAS production stops.
Getting rid of legacy PFAS
€95 billion over 20 years
The journalists of the Forever Lobbying Project teamed up with scientists to calculate
the financial cost of bringing the PFAS crisis under control.
They started with legacy PFAS, big “long-chain” molecules that are restricted or banned
but remain in the environment.
For decades, these chemicals were used to make non-stick pans,
single-use food packaging, and stain-resistant textiles. Experts call them the EFSA 4:
PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS.
Cleaning up the most concentrated sources of long-chain PFAS in Europe would cost
€4.8 billion per year.
Our societies — or, in rare cases, the polluters — must face these financial costs
even if PFAS use stops immediately.
If we continue emitting, the bill will multiply.
Getting rid of all PFAS
€2 trillion over 20 years
Short-chain and ultrashort-chain PFAS, like TFA, are extremely mobile and can very easily enter the
cells of living creatures.
Those molecules are so small they bypass most water filters.
It would cost around €100 billion every year to
remove
short-chain and ultrashort-chain PFAS,
even partially, from the environment and to destroy them. That’s more than two trillion over 20 years.
That is € 2.000.000.000.000
We cannot remove PFAS from human blood, sea foam or rain. But there is still a lot that can be done.
If the EU acts now, we can prevent concentrations of emerging PFAS like TFA from reaching harmful
levels in our drinking water.
An alliance of forever polluters claim that only the previous generation of PFAS is problematic.
These polluters are orchestrating an EU-wide
lobbying and disinformation campaign to derail a proposed European ban on PFAS.
If they are successful, we will all be the subjects of a gigantic, irreversible experiment on a
planetary scale.