The GGD does not intend to do a population screening in Helmond in the area where the Custom Powders factory has been. The GGD states that the PFAS pollution has long been known and that investigations have already been done in the past. The Zembla television program came up with the news earlier this week that a lot of PFAS has been deposited illegally into the sewer and that employees have fallen ill.
The GGD says that since 2018 she has been working with the municipality of Helmond with the Custom Powders file. Together with the Water Board, the municipality has also conducted research into the distribution of PFAS. Together with RIVM, the GGD did so -called ‘health experts’ based on the research.
The Helmond alderman Bonte is based on the GGD advice when it comes to the consequences for public health. All studies have shown that there is no extra risk. And so he sees no reason for an extra population screening.
A piece on the map in Helmond, who shows alderman Bonte, is colored orange, not far from the residential areas Brouwhuis and Rijpelberg. A part of the Brouwhuis district is even in the Orange area. The PFAS pollution is on its worst. “You don’t have to eat vegetables from the garden there,” says Alderman Bonte. “But otherwise all risks have been removed. We offer people there to do land research in the garden and possibly to remediate. We are very careful with the pollution.”
The Custom Powders company was bankrupt and stopped emissions in 2017. “Further pollution is really no longer an issue,” says the alderman. The municipality is busy with a ten million -cost remediation plan to remove the pollution. But how that should happen is still unclear. It is also unclear what will happen to the pollution. PFAS is one Forever Chemical And no longer breaks down in nature. The remediation can take years, according to the alderman.