Revealed: £1.6tn cost of 'forever chemicals'

The cost of cleaning up toxic pollution from "forever chemicals" could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and the rest of Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found.

- Leana Hosea, Rachel Salvidge

The number of British pollution hotspots is also on the rise. If emissions remain unrestricted and uncontrolled, the costs of cleanup will reach £9.9bn a year in the UK, according to the findings of a year-long investigation by the Forever Lobbying Project, a cross-border investigation involving 46 journalists and 18 experts across 16 countries.

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), commonly referred to as "forever chemicals", are a family of more than 10,000 human-made substances. Manufactured by a handful of companies, they are widely used in consumer products and industrial processes.

They can be found in nonstick pans, pizza boxes, cosmetics, waterproof clothing, firefighting foam and pharmaceuticals, among other places. The properties that make them so useful heatproof, greaseproof and waterproof- also have fateful downsides. Almost indestructible without human intervention and persistent in living organisms, PFAS have been linked to infertility, cancers, immune and hormone disruption, and other illnesses.

PFAS are ubiquitous and have been detected in drinking water and surface waters across the UK, which makes the task of remediation huge and complex. Hotspots of contamination include landfills, airports, military sites, sewage outfalls, sewage sludge, manufacturers and industrial users of PFAS, and places where large amounts of firefighting foams have been used.