‘Chronic threat’ of PFAS firefighting foams raised in 2003 secret UK report

September 11, 2024

Read the full article by Pippa Neill (The Guardian)

"The Environment Agency was warned about the “chronic threat” that firefighting foams containing PFAS “forever chemicals” pose to the environment in 2003, 20 years before it started the process of regulating the chemicals, it can be revealed.

In a 200-page report obtained by the Ends Report via a freedom of information request and shared with the Guardian, consultants commissioned by the Environment Agency conducted an environmental review of firefighting foams with a “particular emphasis on their fluorosurfactant content”.

Fluorosurfactants are a type of PFAS – a group of about 10,000 chemicals linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including certain cancers. They are now known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment."