PFAS

Investigations for pollution, trials for environmental disasters, analyzes that detected Pfas in the blood of the citizens of Alessandria and even the production stop imposed in June were not enough:after less than a month and a half, the chemical center Syensqo (formerly Solvay) received authorization from the Province to resume the production and use of Pfas cC604, a substance classified as toxic to humans.The news was given by the Environment councilor of the municipality of Alessandria Giorgio Laguzzi - who explained that the decision would have been taken on the basis of data presented by the company and by Arpa analyzes - and the former councilor Claudio Lombardi, who however, he denounced that everything would have happened based on «checks and activities carried out by an expert appointed by Solvay». The reaction from environmental associations and the Stop Solvay committee was immediate, who sent a letter of concern to the Piedmont Region asking for immediate actio...

High levels of PFAS were found in the blood of all 36 citizens of Spinetta Marengo - a municipality in the province of Alessandria where Syensqo (formerly Solvay) is located, which ended up at the center of a trial for an environmental disaster - recently subjected to biomonitoring.In fact, in 100% of cases they are present concentrations greater than 2 nanograms per milliliter, a threshold identified as a reference value by the National Academies of Sciences and by the Piedmont Region protocol, beyond which deleterious effects on human health may occur.The 36 citizens are submitted voluntarily to the test, promoted by the associations Ànemo, Greenpeace Italia and the Stop Solvay Committee, in May.The analyses, paid for by the Alexandrians out of their own pockets, were carried out by a laboratory at the German University of Aachen.An alarming fact, given that PFAS are highly persistent substances that can cause multiple, even very serious, health problems. The news was communic...

Following the checks carried out by Arpa Piemonte, which certified the failure to comply with the limits of PFAS emissions into the environment, the province of Alessandria sent a double warning to Syensqo – the former Solvay – imposing a halt to production for 30 days.The decision was taken after the company was in recent weeks at the center of particularly serious foam releases in the Bormida river and after investigations conducted for years which resulted in accusations of negligent environmental disaster and which led to discoveries that were anything but reassuring, such as the discovery of Pfas in the blood of the inhabitants of Spinetta Marengo.«It is time for a national law that prohibits the use and production of these dangerous substances to protect the environment and the health of citizens», commented Greenpeace Italia. THE Pfas they are a group that collects over 10,000 synthetic molecules not present in nature, used in various industrial processes...

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.Spe...

The Veneto Regional Administrative Court ruled yesterday on the serious PFAS contamination in the provinces of Vicenza, Padua and Verona.He did so by sanctioning 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 for the cleanup of the poisons spread near the former Miteni of Trissino (Vicenza).Based on what emerged from surveys and investigations, in fact, in first instance administrative proceedings the judges have framed as responsible for pollution all the companies that have successively controlled the Vicenza plant.In 2009 Miteni was sold to ICI and then, five years after the outbreak of the PFAS scandal in 2013, it was declared bankrupt. Although Mitsubishi opposed it with a series of arguments, including the attribution to Miteni of "autonomous choices and entrepreneurial strategies", the absence of "legal...