In the little market town of Bentham, people used to let their children play in firefighting foam that spilled out of the Angus Fibre plant onto the streets, little knowing it was laden with PFOS, a chemical now globally banned due to harm to health. 🧵 Thanks to tireless investigatiom by @neill_pippa, we now know Bentham to be the most PFAS polluted town in England, a discovery which has, sadly, made local people aware of the risk to their health & the health of their families. 2/ channel4.com/news/the-resid…

The beautiful River Plym entering the important shellfish waters of the Plym Estuary, whence they flow into the Plymouth Sound Marine "Protected" Area. The value of these waters to wildlife might make you think every step would be taken to prevent their pollution... 🧵1/12 A glance at our Watershed Pollution Map, reveals just how many potential pollution sources there are in this area, in spite of its value to wildlife:
2/12 watershedinvestigations.com/home/find-out-…

'Fossil fuel + other petrochemical companies have used "the false promise of plastic recycling" to increase virgin-plastic production exponentially over the past six decades.'

99% of plastics are made from chemicals sources from fossil fuels.🧵1/7

search.app/?link=https%3A… The remaining 1% are bioplastics - which have a lower carbon footprint but, according to research by Bethanie Carney-Almroth, still contain many chemicals that are toxic to people + wildlife. 2/7

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

A ban on plastic packaging for fruit & veg would cut 13,000 tons of plastic waste, & 100,000 tons of wasted food - because bags cause people to buy more than they can use - & reduce exposure to PFAS, phthalates & bisphenols found in plastic packaging.🧵

theguardian.com/business/2024/… Bisphenol A, found in some packaging is linked to obesity, reproductive issues & cancers. Exposure to phthalates in the womb has been linked to disruption of reproductive organ development in boys, early onset of puberty in girls. 2/7

chemtrust.org/food-packaging/

The Environment Agency hope to get chemical firms to fund clean up of pollution from the PFAS they produced. Historically, applying the 'polluter pays' principle has been a very mixed bag 🧵

theguardian.com/environment/20…


The EU is currently developing a wastewater treatment plan where manufacturers of chemicals & cosmetics would have to fund their clean up at wastewater treatment plant. But the EU is a huge market for those companies so they're in a stronger negotiating position than the UK.
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The River Wye is being choked by a cocktail of ammonia, nitrogen & phosphate, seething in waters stripped of the shade of woodland, wetland & water crowfoot, a new study commissioned by @WUFoundation & carried out by @cardiffuni using eDNA finds. 🧵1/8 In fish, ammonia "damages the gills' ability to absorb oxygen turning them an angry red or, even, bleeding. By that stage, it's game over" @Petex70 of the @AnglingTrust told us. Ammonia in the Wye may be 1 reason for a steep decline in salmon numbers. 2/8

cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/2838…

Sharks devouring cocaine flung overboard during raids, fish populations crashing as exposure to the levels of oestrogenic chemicals found at sewage outlets feminises male fish, @DrAlexFord on the flood of pharmaceuticals engulfing aquatic creatures.🧵

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/coc…
Of treating sewage 3 times, Dr Ford says, "we...have tertiary treatment in the UK but it's still not up to the specifications where it wld get rid of a lot of the pharmaceutical drugs...that can be done -& it involves a lot more money in our infrastructure- we can remove them...

Forestry Service orders private equity firm to stop pumping water from California's San Bernardino mountains. Blue Triton acquired water rights when they bought a bottled water firm. Since then, pumping increased, but 94-98% isn't bottled but used for "undisclosed purposes"🧵1/5 "undisclosed" in that, although the Forestry Service has repeatedly asked what the water is being used for, the firm don't seem keen to tell them. Conservationists say the increased pumping has reduced the creek to "a trickle". Article @ByIanJames 2/5

latimes.com/environment/st…

Toxic Tees: joint 1st place for most chemically polluted river went to the Tees. A government review found a mass die off of crustaceans in the Tees may be down to an unidentified disease. Could the toxic mix of chemicals we uncovered for this @itvnews piece also play a part?🧵 . @CHEMTrust & @AlistairBoxall explain mixing chemicals can raise their toxicity levels - a chemical that, on it's own, might only be toxic at high levels, when mixed with other compounds, cann become so at much lower amounts.
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buff.ly/3J5NglN

We're barraged with chemicals in all parts of our daily lives. A new report from @CHEMTrust reveals:-
- combinations of multiple substances can cause specific chemicals to act as toxins at much lower levels
- current regulation takes little or no account of this cocktail effect🧵 Read the full report here 👇

buff.ly/3J5NglN

In Pennsylvania, when locals learned fracking & oil drilling waste, full of toxic chemicals & radioactive matter, was being spread on their roads to prevent ice, & this had poisoned local waterways & wildlife, they ran a successful campaign to get this banned.🧵
1/6 It may surprise you to learn, following the ban, oil & gas companies didn't immediately stop passing waste on to treat roads, & pay for proper processing of their toxic waste.
2/6
grist.org/regulation/roa…

Beautiful Cotehele Stream, Cornwall, amid wildlife-rich reed beds: a check of our map reveals this remote, rural stream is rated in "poor" condition by the EA, & has low fish numbers, in spite of what would seem like ideal habitat, why? 🧵
bit.ly/3RMaBiP
Our Watershed Pollution Map
shows even this remote stream is surrounded by pollution sources: 2 wastewater treatment plants, where the EA has had to chase to get equipment updated. The stream has elevated phosphate, attributed to "sewage discharge". 2/6

bit.ly/3RMaBiP

United Utilities & Severn Trent can raise customers' water bills after meeting "stretching" targets, says Ofwat.

Some might ask how "stretching" those targets can possibly be.🧵

shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2…
Firms are raising bills to fund infrastructure to reduce sewage overflows & flood risk. Campaigners, such as @Feargal_Sharkey, highlight that water companies have had decades, a lot of money & a legal duty to develop this infrastructure before now.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/up-…

Heavy rains overwhelm defences put in place at the Ty Llwyd Quarry by Caerphilly Council to prevent chemical waste allegedly abandoned by Monsanto contaminating surrounding woodland, roads, reaching the village of Ynsddu & the River Sihowy.
southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23929574.…
Monsanto (which has since been bought up by Bayer) is thought to have used the site to store chemical waste from its Newport factory. When it left the site, it abandoned barrels of chemical waste. The barrels are now expiring & leaking.

11 'new' PFAS found in water near Chemours plant, North Carolina:

there are 10,000 varieties of PFAS. Each new study uncovers some new harm to health linked to PFAS. These studies & court cases brought by people like @RobertBilott & @bennettpeer... 🧵

theguardian.com/environment/20… ...have inched us toward regulation of 6 types of PFAS. Companies agreed to phase these out. But they replaced them with new, "very similar" forms of PFAS "saying you can't prove it's harmful" explains Bilott in our podcast.
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podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…