Federal Minister of the Environment Zakia Khattabi (Ecolo) accuses her Flemish colleagues of a lack of ambition to avoid new pollution with PFAS in the future. She said this in the House on Tuesday, where she was asked about the pollution in and around Zwijndrecht.
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Last week, Zakia Khattabi organized an inter-ministerial conference on PFOS pollution on and around the site of chemical company 3M in Zwijndrecht. There it was decided to set up a Belgian coordination strategy against contamination with PFAS – the broader group of fluorine compounds to which PFOS belongs. The Ecolo minister also wanted to take steps towards an integrated approach by all involved to prevent pollution such as that in Zwijndrecht in the future.
But Flanders did not want to go into the latter, said Khattabi, saying to her ‘dismay’. Such a broader strategy is nevertheless necessary, according to the Ecolo politician. “I subscribe to the polluter pays principle, but in cases like this financial compensation cannot fix the irreparable,” she said.
‘Together with my Walloon and Brussels colleagues and with the Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke, I will continue to insist on a preventive policy to prevent such disasters by applying the precautionary principle in the authorization of suspect substances and by, more concretely, not adding new substances. leave what has not been proven to be harmless, rather than wait until the risk is proven before taking action.”
Overview | PFOS pollution Zwijndrecht
- PFOS is a non-degradable chemical used in products to make them water and dirt repellent.
- PFOS builds up in the body and is linked to a hormone imbalance, an increased risk of cancer and a weakened immune system
- The American company 3M produced PFOS at its location in Zwijndrecht. Large amounts of PFOS ended up in the soil and groundwater.
- 3M stopped producing PFOS in 2002, officially because it is not or hardly biodegradable.
- Zwijndrecht has been known to scientists as a PFOS hotspot for more than ten years.
- The 3M site is adjacent to the Oosterweel Connection wharf, where the excavation works will soon begin. Environmental associations have complained that it will surface tons of contaminated soil.
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