<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/21/forever-chemicals-ban-criticised-as-nsw-community-airs-its-long-held-contamination-concerns>
"A water quality expert says the Australian government should expand a planned
ban of PFAS as a New South Wales Indigenous community called for funding for
blood tests for people living on “poisoned” land.
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a group of several thousand
synthetic compounds, are found in a wide variety of products including
waterproof fabrics, food packaging, hygiene products and firefighting foam.
They are sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are slow to
break down and persist in the environment for extended periods.
In recommendations set to be tabled at a Senate inquiry into PFAS on Wednesday
morning, Prof Stuart Khan, the head of the School of Civil Engineering at the
University of Sydney, called for a “far-reaching ban for PFAS used in products
made inside and outside Australia”.
The impacts of many PFAS chemicals are not known, but certain compounds have
been linked to adverse health effects, such as PFOA – a compound used to make
Teflon – and PFOS, formerly the key ingredient in Scotchgard.
A health study conducted by the Australian National University in three
communities with known PFAS contamination, published in 2021, found a link
between PFAS exposure and higher cholesterol levels.
In December 2023, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified
PFOA as cancer-causing to humans – in the same category as tobacco smoking and
alcoholic beverages – and PFOS as “possibly” carcinogenic.
In the same month, the Australian government reclassified PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS
on the chemicals register: from 1 July this year, products containing these
compounds will be banned from import, manufacture and use in Australia.
Khan called for that ban to be expanded “to include a much wider range of
PFAS”.
“Almost every molecule of PFAS that has ever been synthesised is still with us
in PFAS form. Some do break down – but mostly into new PFAS,” he wrote. “Proper
and thorough risk assessment would have revealed the ‘forever chemical’ nature
of PFAS at the time they were first introduced to products used in Australia.”
Khan also called for improved testing and mandatory labelling on PFAS products.
“When we export any beef or wine to Europe they do lots of residue testing for
pesticides. We should do the same thing for PFAS coming in,” he told
Guardian
Australia."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
