In Italy PFAS have been found in every region where they have been searched

In all the regions of Italy where surveys have been carried out to search for PFAS, perfluoroalkyl substances produced by industries and associated with numerous pathologies, they have been found.This is what emerges from the results of a recent report published by Greenpeace, entitled "PFAS contamination in Italy", which recorded the presence of PFAS in the waterways of 16 Italian regions, all those in which research has been carried out.The investigation was carried out using ISPRA data, whose database hosts the results of the analyzes carried out by the regional ARPAs and autonomous provinces in Italy in the period between 2019 and 2022 on the presence of PFAS in water bodies, i.e. rivers, lakes and groundwater.According to these statistics, PFAS contamination is present in 17% of test results.

The percentage of positive values ​​for PFAS varies depending on the region being examined, as well as the accuracy of the surveys carried out by the relevant bodies.Specifically, the regions that did record the highest presence of positive analyzes compared to the checks carried out are Basilicata (31%), Veneto (30%) and Liguria (30%).Lombardy, Tuscany, Lazio, Umbra, Abruzzo and Campania then break through to 10%.In some cases, however, there was a lack of fertile ground to develop the investigation:in fact, ISPRA data show that, from 2017 until 2022, there was no control on PFAS in water bodies in the regions of Puglia, Sardinia, Molise and Calabria.The region in which the situation appears most critical is certainly the Veneto – hit by the biggest PFAS scandal in recent years -, which contains the highest concentrations of PFOA, a molecule that has been certified as “carcinogenic to humans, and PFOS.A similar scenario stands out Piedmont, a region in which high concentrations of PFOA and PFOS were found in the water bodies affected by the discharges of the chemical company Solvay (now Syensqo), under whose production center there is the most contaminated aquifer in Europe by PFAS and which is located currently in the dock before the Court of Alessandria for negligent environmental disaster.Subsequently, the results that emerged in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Lazio cause alarm.In light of what is progressively becoming clear about the presence of PFAS, Greenpeace has asked the government to intervene with a national law “which limits the use and production of these dangerous substances”.

The Pfas are a group that collects over 10,000 synthetic molecules not present in nature, used in various industrial processes for the manufacture of products such as non-stick pans or some food packaging.As regards Veneto, only a month ago a new study had calculated the increase in mortality from 1985 to 2018 within the "red area", i.e. the area that includes 30 municipalities and the provinces of Vicenza, Padua and Verona, where PFAS substances have poisoned hundreds of thousands of people.The research - conducted by scientists from the University of Padua, subjected to peer review and published in the scientific journal Environmental Health – confirmed that almost 4 thousand people have died due to PFAS, with an average of one additional death every three days.In the meantime, he is waiting for the criminal trial on the PFAS scandal he sees to reach its verdict the managers of Miteni of Trissino (Vicenza) and of the companies linked to it accused in various capacities of water poisoning, environmental pollution, aggravated unnamed disaster and fraudulent bankruptcy.Last May 27th, the Veneto Regional Administrative Court issued sanctioned that even the Japanese giant Mitsubishi Corporation - which at the end of the 1980s established Miteni, of which it has held between 49 and 90% of the share capital over the years - will have to bear the costs of remediation of the poisons spread near the former Miteni.At the same time, in Piedmont it officially had start the trial before the Gup of the Court of Alessandria against Solvay, which in the Piedmontese city controlled the industrial site that produces, among other things, the toxic and persistent substances PFAS.Last May 6, at the preliminary hearing, over 250 civil parties appeared before the judge, including environmental associations and institutions.

[by Stefano Baudino]