Some committees and associations have presented in Parliament the request for a law banning the use and production of PFAS in Italy.
PFAS is the acronym for le perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyd substancesa group of more than 4,700 man-made chemicals known as “permanent“, because they are extremely persistent in the environment and also in the organism of human beings, where by accumulating they can have adverse health effects.
Credits: US National Toxicology Program, (2016); Health Project Reports C8, (2012); WHO IARC, (2017); Barry et al., (2013); Fenton et al., (2009); and Bianco et al., (2011).
Fonte: European Environment Agency
In March, the journalistic investigation The Forever Pollution Project had revealed a massive PFAS contamination also in Italywith high levels of pollution not only in some areas of the Veneto – already sadly known for being one of the European epicenters -, but also in some areas of the Piedmontadjacent to the Solvay plant specialized in the production of Pfas, of Lombardy and of Tuscany. According to experts the real situation could be even more serious than that photographed by the survey, given that not all Italian regions carry out widespread monitoring.
“It is a’environmental and health emergency out of control», commented after the diffusion of the investigation the head of the Greenpeace pollution campaign, Giuseppe Hungarian. «This unprecedented investigation touches a raw nerve on which the national authorities for some time they chose not to intervenealthough it is clear that the contamination concerns the water, air, food and blood of thousands of people”.
Stopping PFAS substances in Italy: the proposal for a national law
On Wednesday 24 May, some associations and committees presented a proposal to stem PFAS contamination with a law that prohibits its use and production in Italy. The request was made at a press conference hosted by the House of Representatives, and was carried out by CGIL Vicenza, Greenpeace Italy, ISDE Italy, Italia Nostra Veneto, Mamme No Pfas, Medicina Democratica, PFAS.land, Transform! Italy.
The PFAS risk is «unacceptable for the present and for the future: a political intervention can no longer be postponed» according to the associations, which together with over 120 European organizations have signed the Ban PFAS Manifesto, which calls for the urgent ban of PFAS substances.
Committees and associations have presented in Parliament the request for a national law banning the use and production of PFAS. Photo: Greenpeace
In Europa something is moving: some states – such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway – have presented a proposal for the ban on PFAS substances.
In early March, even theEuropean Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published the draft proposal to ban the production and use of thousands of Pfas at Community level, starting a process necessary to stop the contamination of these pollutants.
«Italy remains silent – accuse the associations – despite the multiplication of legislative initiatives on a global level». Denmark, in addition to having passed some of the most restrictive measures in the world on the presence of PFAS in drinking water, has introduced some bans on the use in paper food packaging. Regarding drinking water, in the United States the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently proposed a much more restrictive limit value, equal to 4 nanograms per liter, for both PFOA and PFOS, two of the molecules belonging to the large group of PFAS and known for their danger to health.
«The irreversibility of global contamination by PFAS has already created a toxic legacy whose weight will also be felt on future generations», warn the associations, reporting that – according to the estimates of the Nordic Council of Ministers – the health costs of political inaction for all European countries they are between 52 and 84 billion euros per year.
The guidelines to ban PFAS substances in Italy
With the collaboration of Claudia Marcolungo, university professor of environmental law, the associations that intervened on Wednesday in the Chamber presented the document The seven cornerstones of a national law banning the use and production of PFASproviding the Parliament with the key elements that a national law should take into account.
Among these, the remediation of contaminated areas and the prohibition of the production of PFAS, their industrial use and their marketing “absolutely, everywhere”. The key points identified by the associations also include a monitoring more serious and complete than foods and the population, as well as the indication to consider PFAS substances as highly dangerous substancesto be treated as waste similar to nuclear waste, with extremely rigorous disposal and management methods, tracing its entire life cycle.
