While an investigation into the contamination of the area's soil with a prohibited harmful chemical is underway, residents in the vicinity of a Lancashire chemicals plant have been advised to wash and peel vegetables from their gardens before consuming them.

The substance The World Health Organisation classified PFOA, one of the over 15,000 compounds that make up the PFAS family, as a human carcinogen last year because it does not decompose in the environment. It has also been connected to a number of health issues, including elevated cholesterol and thyroid disorders, and is hazardous to reproduction.

The AGC Chemicals facility in Thornton Cleveleys, close to Blackpool, was leaking hundreds of PFAS, including extremely high amounts of the prohibited PFOA, into the River Wyre, which empties into Morecambe Bay, according to reports by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian last year.

An inquiry into the location has been started by the Environment Agency, Wyre Council, and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The Guardian and Watershed Investigations have now received emails between According to a study conducted by AGC Chemicals and the Environment Agency, between 1950 and 2012—during which time the chemicals manufacturer ICI operated at the site—roughly 115 tonnes of PFOA would have been released into the air, soil, water, and landfills.

According to the records, "there have been approximately 178 tonnes of mass releases of PFOA to air, land, water, and in product since the Hillhouse site's first production." 49.1 tonnes would have gone into the atmosphere, 54.3 tonnes into the water, 6.2 tonnes into landfills, 5.1 tonnes into incinerators, and 63.3 tonnes would have been distributed to consumers, according to AGC.

Additionally, they demonstrate that AGC used the Jameson Waste Management Facility until 2014, when it switched to using an offsite dump that accepts hazardous wastes.

Residents have been informed by Wyre council that the probe pertains to PFOA use in the past. Since PFOA takes thousands of years to decompose in the environment, any pollution that may have occurred in the 1950s would still be there today, earning it the moniker "forever chemical."

To determine whether and to what extent PFOA is present, the examination will involve "collecting small amounts of soil from a number of publicly owned locations within the vicinity of the site." Additionally, some samples will be collected for comparison from areas farther away, according to Wyre Council.The council instructed households to "wash and peel any produce grown in the soil in order to remove any soil or dust" and to "reduce contact with the soil by taking sensible measures" in a letter.

Councilwoman Claire Rimmer of Wyre noted that the initial round of testing "in the vicinity of the site" was a pilot project that might be continued based on the findings.

The directive is reminiscent of a PFAS pollution situation that occurred in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, in 2022, when locals near a 3M factory were told not to eat eggs or vegetables from their chickens and gardens.

Prof. Ian Cousins of Stockholm University, an authority on PFAS, expressed his shock at the lack of action done sooner. We would anticipate elevated PFOA levels in the soil within a few km of the plant based on the past emissions. Therefore, it is sense to use caution when consuming produce from the area, he stated.

Based on emissions from other fluoropolymer manufacturing facilities, cousins said the estimates appeared reasonable, but he was surprised by "how much is emitted to air." Generally, we estimate that 15% is released into the air and 85% onto land or water.

"Lancaster University detected high levels of PFOA in the air at the air monitoring site near Lancaster when AGC was still using PFOA, so we know the AGC plant has emitted PFOA to the air," he stated. Additionally, we at Stockholm University recently used the same air monitoring station to measure the replacement [PFAS] in the air, or EEA.

It is peculiar that no human biomonitoring research is being done to determine whether exposure has occurred to nearby residents.

"At present it is not clear what, if any, public health risk there may be around the site," stated Dr. John Astbury, a public health specialist at UKHSA North West. As the study progresses, UKHSA will take into account any potential dangers and offer an evaluation of any potential exposure.