PFAS leaching and contamination remains the most extraordinary environmental event across the entire planet. PFAS substances comprise a group of over 4,000 chemicals and are found in a range of applications such as:
Water and stain protection for carpets, fabric, furniture and apparel
Paper coating (including a range of food packaging)
Metal plating
Photographic materials
Aviation hydraulic fluid
Cosmetics and sunscreen
Medical devices
Ingredients in fire-fighting foam (a particular substance of impact in Australia)
PFAS chemicals are effective in resisting heat, stains, grease and are film forming in water. As a result they are called 'forever chemicals" and have permeated across the planet and largely into the biology of most human beings. The chemicals are known to be carcinogenic but the overall level of exposure and the length of time required to be fully toxic has yet to be determined. In some towns and villages where contamination has been substantial, the health effects are already apparent.
As knowledge and information has come to light with growing public awareness, consumer products such as kitchenware with labelling stating "non PFAS" have increasingly become available.
A landmark legal settlement has once again focused our attention on the dangers of “forever chemicals”.
This class of chemicals, technically known as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are widely used to make nonstick or waterproof products. The problem is, the chemicals move easily around the environment, pollute groundwater and rivers, are often carcinogenic – and they don’t degrade.
This month, one of the largest makers of these chemicals, 3M, had its offer of A$16 billion to clean up PFAS-contaminated waterways approved by a US court. It’s just the latest in a series of PFAS lawsuits across the United States.
While increased attention is welcome, there’s no guarantee of success. Removing and destroying PFAS from wastewater streams across a single US state, Minnesota, would cost a minimum of $21 billion over 20 years. Globally, a recent report by the chemical safety nonprofit ChemSec found the costs of PFAS remediation alone amount to around $26 trillion per year – not including rising healthcare costs from exposure to PFAS, or damage to the environment. The 3M settlement is just the tip of the iceberg.
The problem now is how to actually clean up these chemicals – and prevent further pollution.
Remediation is expensive – and uncertain
In Australia, contamination is worst in firefighter training grounds and on defence force bases, due to the long-term use of firefighting foams full of PFAS. The discovery of this contamination triggered a wave of lawsuits. The Department of Defence has since paid out more than $366 million in class action lawsuits.
Defence has also assumed responsibility for managing, remediating and monitoring PFAS contamination on and around its bases. In 2021, the department began to actively set about remediation.
That sounds promising – find the pollution and fix the problem. But the reality is much more complicated.
A 2022 parliamentary inquiry described PFAS remediation as an emerging and experimental industry.
This is correct. There’s a great deal of basic scientific research we have to do. This is not a simple problem. These chemicals seep into the soil and groundwater – and stay there. It’s hard to get them out.
As a result, most remediation work at defence bases to date has been part of research and development, rather than a wide-scale permanent cleanup.
To help, the defence department has brought in three major industry partners, including Emerging Compounds Treatment Technologies. We don’t know how they are doing the cleanup or if their methods work, as this information is not publicly accessible. The three companies have sought intellectual property protection to support their technological advantage in the growing PFAS remediation market.
One of the companies, Venetia, told the parliamentary inquiry:
[there] are still significant gaps in knowledge in keys areas such as human health toxicology, PFAS behaviour in the environment and remediation of PFAS in soil and water
PFAS is a much bigger problem
Significant PFAS contamination has now been reported in:
– Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel construction site. Soil contamination at the most polluted site is hundreds of times worse than a threshold set by the state’s environmental protection agency
The full extent of PFAS contamination in Australia is still emerging. Recent research has found Australia is one of several toxic hotspots for PFAS, relative to the rest of the world.
Getting forever chemicals out of groundwater is going to be hard – but necessary.Mumemories/Shutterstock
Worse, current monitoring practices are likely to be underestimating how much PFAS is lingering in the environment, given we usually only track a handful of these chemicals – out of more than 16,000.
improved understanding of the range of PFAS embodied in consumer and industrial products […] to assess the environmental burden and develop mitigation measures
The more we look, the more alarming the picture appears. Emerging research has found PFAS in consumer products such as cosmetics, packaging, waterproofing, inks, pesticides, medical articles, polishes and paints, metal plating, pipes and cables, mechanical components, electronics, solar cells, textiles and carpets.
The size and complexity of PFAS contamination suggests we are in for a very long and expensive process to begin cleaning it up – especially given we are still making and using these chemicals.
How should we respond?
To start addressing the problem, here are three important steps.
The introduction of this concept is what forced 3M to pay up in the US. Australia has yet to follow suit, which is why the public has been footing the bill. If we introduce this legal principle, manufacturers will have to take responsibility. This would make it much less attractive for companies to make polluting products – and shift the burden from taxpayers to the companies responsible. Australia’s government is considering pursuing similar legal action against 3M.
2. Set PFAS contamination standards in line with other OECD countries, or better.
Earlier this month, the US implemented the first legally enforceable national drinking water standards for five PFAS compounds and two PFAS mixtures. Australia’s current acceptable drinking water guidelines allow up to 140 times more PFAS in our water than these strict new US standards. In the US, these new standards are drawing new investment in remediation.
3. Take it seriously.
For years, many of us thought all you had to do to avoid PFAS was not to buy nonstick pans. But these chemicals are now everywhere. They’re highly persistent and don’t leave our bodies easily. Every single person on the planet is now likely to have detectable levels of PFAS in their blood. Reducing this dangerous chemical load is going to take a lot of work to clean up existing hotspots, stop further production, and prevent recirculation of PFAS in recycled products or in our food.
The 3M settlement is a good start. But it’s only a start. Tackling this problem is going to be hard, but necessary.
Plastics, particularly microplastics, have inflitrated much of the planet and its ecosystems. Once considered a wonder of industrialisation, these substances now constitute a current and increasing threat to survival for life globally.
ANZAC Day falls on the 25th of April each year and now commemorates the service of Australians in many military conflicts across the world. The date originates from the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on the coast of the Gallipoli peninsula on the morning of 25 April 1915 - the peninsula was fiercely defended by Ottoman Turkish forces and ultimately cost the lives of over 8,000 Australian service members before they were evacuated at the end of 1915.
At this time of continuing conflict in Eastern Europe, in the Middle East and simmering civil conflicts in other regions, the "Ode" printed below continues to resonate.
"For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon, published 21 September 1914, the fourth stanza of the poem -
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Cosmetics and fitness training - do they belong together ? Apparently no. There is a certain common sense logic to it - having foundation on the skin while exercising prevents skin pores from opening and releasing sebum. Sebum is a waxy. oily substance produced by the sebaceous glands that protects the health of skin.
A research study from Texas A & M University - San Antonio using a cohort of 43 college students (20 men and 23 women) monitored pore size and sebum production after the use of a skin cleanser and then application of foundation in a single layer on the participants faces. The participants then ran for 20 minutes on a treadmill after which skin measurements were taken and the level of sebum assessed. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was found that the size of skin pores increased in areas of skin where there was no foundation applied in comparison to where it had been applied. It was concluded that the foundation cosmetic restricted pores from "..naturally enlarging during exercise, prevcenting the release of sebum and sweat, which moisturises and cools the skin" [Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology].
This research is probably not earth shattering in any measure as similar findings have been found for film/television production make-up, large body ink tattooes and body paint which prevents the skin "from breathing". It does however provide a measure of actual evidence to support the perspective that natural appearance is best.
Taking long walks amounting to 10,000 steps has long been cited in the media and in various health related publications as beneficial for reducing heart disease and improving general health, however the origin of this claim and the evidence behind it, has long been a mystery. One suggestion is that the source of this claim comes from a marketing campaign promoting pedometers - which seems very plausible. Specific evidence of the health benefits has been minimal.
One study has now been released by the University of Sydney and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. This study involved 72,000 participants with an average age of 61 whom wore a movement tracking accelerometer on their wrists for one week. Over an average of 7 years, these participants were tracked and adjusting for factors relating to illness and death (diet, smoking, other forms of exercise), the optimal number of steps per day for a health benefit were between 9,000 and 10,000. This number of steps was calculated to provide a 39 % lower risk of dying duirng the follow-up period (the 7 years) and a 21 % lower risk of a heart-related incident. Happy walking !
