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Italian court delivers first PFAS contamination conviction

In the Italian court on Thursday sentenced executives at a chemical plant to prison terms of up to 17 years for polluting water used by hundreds of thousands of people with Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS, a.k.a. “forever chemicals”).

This is the first-ever criminal sentence on PFAS. 

Eleven executives from companies including Japan’s Mitsubishi and Luxembourg-based International Chemical Investors (ICIG) were convicted for contaminating nearly 200 square kilometres (77 square miles) of drinking water as well as soil through the Miteni plant in the northeastern city of Trissino.

The court sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two years and eight months to 17 years, in the case of two executives at now-folded Italian firm Miteni. Meanwhile, four other defendants were acquitted. The court also ordered the convicted defendants to pay a total of 57 million euros to the Italian environment ministry.

Alsace water contaminated with PFAS

Residents of Alsace, eastern France, were recently told by local government that it had found dangerously high levels of Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS a.k.a. forever chemicals) in the water, and the Guardian has run a profile on some of those affected.

An estimated 60,000 residents across 11 communes received letters advising those in high-risk groups – under-twos, immunocompromised people, pregnant women – not to drink water from the taps for the rest of year.

Saint-Louis is now the site of France’s biggest ever ban on drinking tap water. Its at-risk residents will rely on bottled water until at least the end of the year, when authorities hope water filter systems will be installed. Tests of the local tap water showed levels of PFAS had reached four times the recommended limit. According to the joint statement from the local authority and regional health agency, the main source of contamination was firefighting foam used at the airport from the 1960s until 2017. Toxic residues from the foam have persisted and filtered through the soil into drinking water and people’s bodies, probably over decades.

A warning for the rest of Europe?

PFAS are used around the world in a wide range of consumer products due to their ability to repel both grease and water, including non-stick cookware, food packaging, cosmetics, electronics, clothing and more. However, they can be toxic to both humans and wildlife. Two of the most studied chemicals in this family, PFOA and PFOS, have been shown to:

• Interfere with the hormonal system (so they are called endocrine disruptors)
• Interfere with the reproductive system and the development of the foetus
• Impact the immune system and have been linked to reduced responses to vaccines in children
• Promote the development of certain cancers (e.g. kidney and testicular cancer)

It should be noted that many of the thousands of PFAS currently in use are lacking proper toxicological data.

Calls to phase out PFAS entirely are growing, as well as demands to make polluters pay. The Guardian asks “if the water in Alsace has been deemed too dangerous to drink, what does it mean for the rest of the world?”.