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Sydney Water has detected per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS or Forever Chemicals, in several catchments across the city. Dubbed ‘forever chemicals’ due to the time it takes for them to break down, these industrial chemicals have been linked to several cancers and other harmful health effects.
Testing carried out in June and July confirmed the presence of PFAS at low levels at water filtration plants in Orchard Hills, Prospect and Warrangamba, and at moderate levels in North Richmond and at the Cascade Dam in the Blue Mountains.
Although concerning, they stressed that all water in Sydney is safe to drink and the levels detected were below Australian drinking water guidelines.
PFAS is a broad term covering thousands of synthetic man-made chemicals created for industrial purposes including resisting heat, stains, grease and water. They’re found in a wide variety of products such as stain and water protection for carpets and upholstery, non-stick cookware, paper dye, firefighting foam, cosmetics and sunscreen.
But the same properties that make PFAS useful for industrial applications make them almost impossible to remove from the environment, and ultimately, from being ingested by humans.
These chemicals can take hundreds of years to break down, hence the ‘forever’ moniker, and can travel a long distance by air and water.
There have been studies linking PFAS with thyroid, kidney, testicular and liver cancers, as well as reduced immune system function and high cholesterol. The World Health Organization considers PFAS to be generally carcinogenic to humans.
But the current Australian government position is that while some studies have linked PFAS with various conditions, the overall evidence of their danger is still inconclusive.
“Many scientific studies have investigated potential health effects resulting from PFAS exposure, but the results have been mixed, and scientific understanding is still developing as more research is undertaken,” the government PFAS warning website reads.
However, they do also concede their expert panel for PFAS found that “although the scientific evidence in humans is limited, reviews and scientific research to date have provided fairly consistent reports of an association with several health effects”.
But this might be about to change. Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe will chair a parliamentary inquiry into the health and environmental impacts of PFAS and whether there needs to be stricter controls on their use.
“PFAS are the asbestos of the 21st century, just far more prevalent and far less understood,” she said in a recent statement.
“These chemicals already affect every single person in the world, yet not enough is being done to manage our exposure to them and reduce the risks.
“We’ve already seen worrying instances of cancer clusters with suspected links to PFAS chemicals. We cannot take them seriously enough.”
