North Yorkshire town has UK’s highest concentration of ‘forever chemicals’

By Pippa Neill | The Guardian | May 28, 2024

Read the full article by Pippa Neill (The Guardian)

“A small North Yorkshire town has been found to have the highest concentration of ‘forever chemicals’ in the UK, it can be revealed.

The market town of Bentham, which is home to 3,000 people and set on the banks of the River Wenning, is also home to the Angus International Safety Group – locally known as Angus Fire – which, since the 1970s, has been producing firefighting foams containing PFAS at a factory near the town centre.

PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and commonly known as forever chemicals owing to their persistence in the environment, are a family of about 10,000 chemicals that have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including certain cancers. They are used in a huge range of consumer products, from frying pans to waterproof coats, but one of their most prolific uses is in firefighting foams."

This content provided by the PFAS Project.