PFAS producer Chemours will clean the contaminated soil in vegetable gardens around the factory in Dordrecht. That reports the company in a press release. The chemical company will also take samples from the swimming water in the area.
The action follows, among other things, a RIVM advice from 2022 to no longer eat green and fruit from vegetable gardens around the factory. From one report it turned out that the crops are so contaminated that there is an increased risk of health damage. Over the years, the RIVM advice has been increasingly tightened: in 2018, the RIVM advised not to eat “too often and not too much” from vegetable gardens within a kilometer of the factory. Now the advice for vegetable gardeners within a fifteen kilometer radius of the factory differs, depending on the distance.
PFAS is a collective name for thousands of different chemicals, mainly known from the non-stick coating in pans. They are used for a variety of applications, from raincoats and dental floss to telephone wiring and firefighting foam. The substances hardly or not at all break down, and have been produced in such quantities since the mid-twentieth century that everyone in the world ingests too much through food and water. The pollution is greatest around factories, such as those of Chemours in Dordrecht. PFAS has been linked to damage to the immune system, and in higher concentrations it can lead to cancer and liver damage.
The land will be replaced in collaboration with the municipalities of Dordrecht, Papendrecht, Sliedrecht and Molenlanden, under the guidance of an independent external expert. The chemical company is starting “the first phase of the action plan with a pilot program” to provide direction for further actions “aimed at addressing the concerns that exist.”
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