PFOA concentrations fell 29% and levels in freshwater fish fell 49%, but the Environment Agency says the chemicals may have diluted and washed into the sea rather than disappeared.
Concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in England’s rivers fell by 30% and 29% respectively over the past decade, new Environment Agency figures show. Levels in freshwater fish fell 49%.
The decline has been attributed to tighter restrictions on the chemicals, which were all but banned in the UK: PFOS in 2010 and PFOA in 2020. Researchers had linked them to tissue damage in animals and higher rates of some serious health conditions in people, including testicular cancer.
The agency says the overall amount of the chemicals in the environment is likely to have remained unchanged. They break down very slowly and may instead have been diluted and washed into the sea, BBC Science and Environment said.
PFOS and PFOA belong to a large group of chemicals called PFAS, often known as “forever chemicals” because they break down so slowly. Their resistance to oil and water and their electrical properties made them useful in products including frying pans and firefighting foam.
Some PFAS accumulate in living organisms and can harm health. A separate Environment Agency project developed a threshold for the combined concentration of four PFAS in whole fish to help protect people who eat fish. The percentage decline does not establish whether fish meet that threshold.
The Environment Agency says the toxicity of many other PFAS remains uncertain and that its findings support regulating the chemicals as a group rather than individually. The chemicals industry opposes that approach, saying evidence that other PFAS are toxic is absent or limited and that some have vital uses, including in lifesaving medical equipment.
David Megson, an environmental-forensics researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University, welcomed the progress but said more work was needed. He said the report could support investigations to make polluters pay for any damage they caused.
The agency is regularly testing for 60 other PFAS to build a picture of contamination across the country. The UK government also announced earlier this month that it would begin monitoring PFAS levels in people’s bodies.
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