Why is so little known about PFAS in UK drinking water?

摘要

Toxic PFAS is in the blood of almost everyone in the world. It is a problem whose significance is understood in America, Australia and across Europe, but less so in the UK, where awareness of the chemicals and their health impacts is unusually low. In the US, manufacturers using a chemical from a family of substances called PFAS have paid out close to £1bn for poisoning the drinking water of people along the Ohio river, and two firms have put aside another £4bn in preparation for future cases expected to be brought against them. In Australia's Northern Territory, towns Oakey and Katherine were ordered not to drink tap water after finding levels of PFAS many times higher than the 'safe' limit. Their groundwater was poisoned by a nearby air base which used PFAS-rich fire-fighting foams in large volumes.