Residents in a small seaside town have been warned about high levels of “forever chemicals” in their home-grown veg. Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent said samples of produce grown at allotments next to a former chemical plant had eight times the safe level of a carcinogen. Authorities will be contacting residents and allotment holders within a kilometre of the AGC Chemicals and ICI Hillhouse site in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire.
This comes after the council launched an investigation into possible contamination of the site with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in September, which the site used from the 1950s to 2012. PFOAs are a group of man-made ‘forever’ chemicals, so called because their unique chemical structure makes them extremely resistant to breaking down in the environment or in the human body, accumulating over time.
They are used in waterproof fabrics like nylon, carpets, feminine hygiene products, mobile phone screens, paint, furniture, adhesives, food packaging, non-stick cooking surfaces, and in most cosmetics and personal care products.
They have been linked to numerous cancers, decreased immunity, decreased fertility, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, reduced infant and fetal growth and developmental issues in children, abnormally high cholesterol, and higher rates of hormone interference.
Vincent said: “It’s probably best not to eat fruit and vegetables grown in the ground there. We are suggesting people think for themselves and make a common sense decision. We are not a health or food standards agency, but we do have a responsibility to our residents.”
While he said that the risk was understood to be a “very low one”, he nevertheless wants “better expert advice for people to try and make them feel a bit more comfortable about this”.
Wyre Council said that while elevated concentrations of PFOAs were not necessarily a cause for concern, the results highlighted the need for more detailed risk analysis testing.
The council wrote to residents advising them to “continue to enjoy using your garden space as you normally would” but to “wash hands thoroughly after working or playing in the garden or allotment and “wash and peel any produce grown in the soil in order to remove any soil or dust”.
Vincent said the authority would write to residents again to urge them “to consider not eating them until such time as more is known”. Wyre Council said the Environment Agency would carry out more detailed tests on 22 areas of land in the coming weeks.