The Cost of Inaction: A socioeconomic analysis of environmental and health impacts linked to exposure to PFAS

March 13, 2019

A recent Nordic Council study, The Cost of Inaction: A socioeconomic analysis of environmental and health impacts linked to exposure to PFAS, estimates the very high cost of harm to human health and the environment from PFAS exposure in Europe.

Non-health costs, e.g., treatment of contaminated drinking water, are estimated to range between 16.9 and 170.8 billion EUR over the next 20 years. The estimates are based on actual costs of PFAS contamination incurred by communities and industries in the U.S. and Sweden.
Health-related costs may be even higher. Epidemiological research on PFAS exposures of workers and communities with contaminated drinking water indicates that annual health-related costs range between 52 and 85 billion EUR each year.
The study concludes that these are underestimates, because data is lacking concerning the long-term health impacts of PFAS exposure. These costs are not paid by the industries profiting from making and using PFAS. Rather, they are borne by taxpayers and by affected citizens.