French region bans tap water sparking panic buying after supply was found to be tainted with 'forever chemicals' from airport firefighting foam
The sweeping ban affects 11 areas in the Haut-Rhin region near the commune of Saint-Louis, where water tests revealed levels of PFAS - a group of dangerous man-made substances - at up to four times the legal limit.
The contamination has been traced back to firefighting foam used at the nearby Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport, which straddles the French-Swiss-German border.
Authorities have confirmed the airport stopped using the PFAS-based foam in 2017, but the damage was already done and now the persistent chemicals are leaching into the local water system.
In a joint statement, regional health officials and the local prefecture admitted that the toxic compounds - linked to a slew of health issues including infertility, immune disorders, developmental delays in children, and even cancer - are 'extremely difficult' to eliminate.
The tap water ban is set to remain in place until at least the end of the year, while a €20million clean-up effort gets underway.
As a result, vulnerable groups including pregnant women, nursing mothers, children under two, and people with autoimmune or chronic illnesses have been told not to drink the water.
But locals say virtually everyone has now turned to bottled alternatives, with supermarkets reportedly running low as residents stockpile supplies.
'Blood tests on volunteers showed that the levels of PFAS contamination here are among the highest in France,' Bruno Wollenschneider, the head of a local residents' association, said.
PFAS – or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are widely used in everything from fast-food packaging and waterproof clothing to non-stick frying pans.
They are dubbed 'forever chemicals' because they do not break down in the environment or the human body.
But it's not just eastern France that's in trouble. The west of the country is also battling a crisis, this time from agricultural fertilisers.
Groundwater in the Loire-Atlantique département has been polluted by nitrates, prompting authorities to dilute it with water from the River Loire in a desperate bid to bring levels down.
Mickaël Derangeon, vice-president of regional water supplier Atlantic'eau, admitted nitrate levels in some areas routinely exceed legal thresholds.
Even when levels are just below the limit, 'scientific studies show that there is a risk to health,' he said.
In the town of Machecoul-Saint-Même, tap water is now made up of 75 per cent river water and 25 per cent groundwater in an attempt to reduce the risk.
But confidence is waning. 'I never drink tap water anymore,' said Daniel Coudart, a local pensioner.
France has already been fined four times by the European Union for breaching drinking water standards, and fresh legal trouble may be on the way.
The EU's top court is now investigating whether France has once again failed to comply with nitrate limits.
Former environment minister Corinne Lepage said: 'France has been dealing with this problem for 30 years and it costs a fortune'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Could your gut protect you from toxic plastics?
Could your gut protect you from the toxic impacts of forever chemicals? Forever chemicals, also known as 'PFAS,' are long-lasting, synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products around the world since the 1950s. They're found in waterproof clothing, non-stick pans, plastic food packaging, and firefighting foams. Exposure to the chemicals may be tied to negative health impacts, including fertility, developmental delays in children, a weakened immune system, increased cholesterol levels, and a heightened risk of some cancers. There are thousands of forever chemicals that have potentially varying effects and toxicity levels. Now, scientists say they've discovered that some bacteria found in the human gut have the ability to absorb the chemicals — and potentially protect from associated health impacts. 'We found that certain species of human gut bacteria have a remarkably high capacity to soak up PFAS from their environment at a range of concentrations, and store these in clumps inside their cells,' Dr. Kiran Patil, a member of the British University of Cambridge's MRC Toxicology Unit, explained in a statement. 'Due to aggregation of PFAS in these clumps, the bacteria themselves seem protected from the toxic effects.' Patil was the senior author of the research, which was published in the journal Nature Microbiology. To reach these conclusions, the researchers inserted several species of bacteria from the human gut into mice. The study found that nine species of the bacteria gathered the forever chemicals the rodents ate and then pooped out. When exposed to increasing levels of the chemicals, the bacteria worked even harder, consistently removing the same percentage of the toxic chemicals. Within just minutes of exposure, the bacterial species soaked up between a quarter and nearly two-thirds of the forever chemicals. The same effect has not yet been tested in humans, but the researchers said they plan to use their findings to create probiotic dietary supplements that boost the levels of these species in the gut to shield against any PFAS-related health harms. They are also looking at how they could turbo-charge the species' performance. 'The reality is that PFAS are already in the environment and in our bodies, and we need to try and mitigate their impact on our health now,' Dr. Indra Roux, a researcher at the University of Cambridge's MRC Toxicology Unit and a co-author of the study, said. Until then, the researchers say the best thing people can do to protect themselves is to avoid known risks for exposure. Although, even tap water has been contaminated: nearly half of all tap water in America. Under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency moved to weaken Biden-era standards limiting the pollution of potentially-toxic 'forever chemicals' in U.S. drinking water sources earlier this year. 'PFAS were once considered safe, but it's now clear that they're not,' added fellow researcher Dr. Anna Lindell. 'It's taken a long time for PFAS to become noticed because at low levels they're not acutely toxic. But they're like a slow poison.'
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
French region bans tap water sparking panic buying after supply was found to be tainted with 'forever chemicals' from airport firefighting foam
French officials have issued an unprecedented ban on drinking tap water following a shocking discovery that the supply is laced with toxic 'forever chemicals'. The sweeping ban affects 11 areas in the Haut-Rhin region near the commune of Saint-Louis, where water tests revealed levels of PFAS - a group of dangerous man-made substances - at up to four times the legal limit. The contamination has been traced back to firefighting foam used at the nearby Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport, which straddles the French-Swiss-German border. Authorities have confirmed the airport stopped using the PFAS-based foam in 2017, but the damage was already done and now the persistent chemicals are leaching into the local water system. In a joint statement, regional health officials and the local prefecture admitted that the toxic compounds - linked to a slew of health issues including infertility, immune disorders, developmental delays in children, and even cancer - are 'extremely difficult' to eliminate. The tap water ban is set to remain in place until at least the end of the year, while a €20million clean-up effort gets underway. As a result, vulnerable groups including pregnant women, nursing mothers, children under two, and people with autoimmune or chronic illnesses have been told not to drink the water. But locals say virtually everyone has now turned to bottled alternatives, with supermarkets reportedly running low as residents stockpile supplies. 'Blood tests on volunteers showed that the levels of PFAS contamination here are among the highest in France,' Bruno Wollenschneider, the head of a local residents' association, said. PFAS – or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are widely used in everything from fast-food packaging and waterproof clothing to non-stick frying pans. They are dubbed 'forever chemicals' because they do not break down in the environment or the human body. But it's not just eastern France that's in trouble. The west of the country is also battling a crisis, this time from agricultural fertilisers. Groundwater in the Loire-Atlantique département has been polluted by nitrates, prompting authorities to dilute it with water from the River Loire in a desperate bid to bring levels down. Mickaël Derangeon, vice-president of regional water supplier Atlantic'eau, admitted nitrate levels in some areas routinely exceed legal thresholds. Even when levels are just below the limit, 'scientific studies show that there is a risk to health,' he said. In the town of Machecoul-Saint-Même, tap water is now made up of 75 per cent river water and 25 per cent groundwater in an attempt to reduce the risk. But confidence is waning. 'I never drink tap water anymore,' said Daniel Coudart, a local pensioner. France has already been fined four times by the European Union for breaching drinking water standards, and fresh legal trouble may be on the way. The EU's top court is now investigating whether France has once again failed to comply with nitrate limits. Former environment minister Corinne Lepage said: 'France has been dealing with this problem for 30 years and it costs a fortune'.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Scientists discover cancer-fighting bacteria that 'soak up' forever chemicals in the body
A family of healthy bacteria may help 'soak up' toxic forever chemicals in the body, warding off their cancerous effects. Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), are toxic chemicals that have been linked cancer, infertility and birth defects. They're named because they don't naturally break down in the environment or the body. Instead, they leech from plastic containers and nonstick cookware into food and build up in vital organs, increasing the risk of organ failure, infertility and some forms of cancer. Researchers at the University of Cambridge took samples of 38 strains of healthy bacteria living in the human gut and put them into lab mice. They found mice carrying human gut bacteria had up to 74 percent more 'forever' chemicals in their stool compared to mice without the bacteria within minutes of exposure. This suggests the toxins latched on to the bacteria as they moved through the digestive tract, leaving the body through the stool. While mountains of research have demonstrated deadly effects of forever chemicals, the new study is one of the first to show they can be taken out of the body instead of accumulating in there forever. And it builds on recent research showing a link between PFAS and the digestive tract. A study published last month, for example, found PFAS latches on to bile acids in the gut and eating fiber can help filter that excess bile out. Dr Kiran Patil, senior study author and toxicologist at the University of Cambridge, said: 'Given the scale of the problem of PFAS "forever chemicals," particularly their effects on human health, it's concerning that so little is being done about removing these from our bodies. 'We found that certain species of human gut bacteria have a remarkably high capacity to soak up PFAS from their environment at a range of concentrations, and store these in clumps inside their cells. 'Due to aggregation of PFAS in these clumps, the bacteria themselves seem protected from the toxic effects.' PFAS are thought to be endocrine-disrupting chemicals, meaning they imitate the body's hormones and interfere with the production of - and response to - natural hormones like estrogen and testosterone. This increases the risk of developing hormone-sensitive cancers like breast and ovarian cancer. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Microbiology, looked at samples of 38 healthy bacteria in the gut. The researchers measured the effect of bacteria on levels of the forever chemicals perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanoate acid (PFOA). PFOA is considered a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), meaning it causes cancer in animals. PFNA, meanwhile, is a Group 2 carcinogen, suggesting it may cause cancer in animals. Over the course of 24 hours, nine of the tested bacteria reduced exposure to PFNA by 25 to 74 percent and PFOA levels by 23 to 58 percent. For both types of PFAS, Odoribacter splanchnicus lead to the greatest reductions. It's thought to produce the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, which boosts metabolism and immune function. The team believes PFAS latch onto the bacteria and are excreted out of the body through the stool. The researchers are now working on developing probiotic supplements to increase levels of these healthy bacteria in the gut. Dr Indra Roux, study co-author and researcher at the University of Cambridge's MRC Toxicology Unit, said: 'The reality is that PFAS are already in the environment and in our bodies, and we need to try and mitigate their impact on our health now. 'We haven't found a way to destroy PFAS, but our findings open the possibility of developing ways to get them out of our bodies where they do the most harm.'
