Not just fecal bacteria, the Seine is also full of Pfas

The presence of Pfas was not taken into account by the French authorities when deciding on the bathability of the Seine for the Olympic Games.

THE fecal bacteria they were at the center of all attention in the city of Paris in the last few weeks.Not just their presence in the Seine resulted in the relocation of swimming trials and competitions within the Olympics, which had been programmed in the famous river that runs through the metropolis.Not only those that took place did not fail to arouse controversy as some athletes they found themselves contaminated in the following days.Above all, the story made us see first-hand what the level of pollution of the great rivers:despite a titanic cleanup program initiated by the French authorities, and despite a monstrous investment from 1.4 billion euros, the situation, in fact, is only satisfactory at times (also due to weather conditions).But bacteria are not the only form of pollution present in the Seine:there was much less talk about it during the Games, but there are also other toxic elements in the river:let's talk about the Pfas.Of which much, much less is also known in terms of impacts on human health.

In spring, analyzes of PFAS in 23 large rivers in Europe, including the Seine

The presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, Pfas in fact, was certified last spring by a report edited by the associations of the European Pesticide Action Network (Pan Europe), who took water samples in twenty-three large waterways And six aquifers of ten nations.The analyzes were then entrusted to the Water Technology Center in Karlsruhe, Germany.And the results were irresistible:Pfas have been found in totality of the rivers, and in particular trifluoroacetic acid (Tfa) it was present in 98 percent of the samples.

The Seine is part of the list, but its bathability within the Games was based solely on the presence of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus.Indeed, TFA was on the list of PFAS found in the Parisian river, which in general had a concentration of 2,900 nanograms per liter, thus showing it to be the second most polluted watercourse among those analysed, after the Elba.

“We don't know the impact on our immune system”

Talking to the newspaper Le Monde, however, a toxicologist of the Vrije University of Amsterdam had explained that "swimming in the Seine from time to time will not cause problems, but I would not recommend doing it regularly".However, he admitted:“We still don't know if TFA causes toxic effects on ours immune system, and if that were the case, we would have a serious problem."

The races, in any case, have now taken place.And the athletes immersed themselves in the waters of the Seine, reassured by the sufficiently low levels of fecal bacteria.However, PFAS constitute, at the very least, a great unknown at present, both from an environmental and health point of view.The application of a healthy precautionary principle by public authorities would be objectively desirable.