Fundamental right: our view on the final report of the parliamentary inquiry committee

28.03.2022 | Fundamental right

In June 2021, we jointly demanded a parliamentary inquiry committee into PFOS pollution. On Monday, that committee presented its final report.

Despite very clear mistakes made in the past, the Commission did not appoint political responsibilities.
In 2017, it was nevertheless decided not to inform us about the PFOS pollution, and not to start any further research into it. The politicians who were responsible for that decision should have done their part a long time ago. That they did not do so, and that their colleagues also did not point out these serious mistakes, is incomprehensible.

At the same time, the Commission formulated a whole series of important recommendations, several of which were initiated by Grondrecht and partners (to BBL, Greenpeace, Dryade, Thomas Goorden):

• the commission wants more Flemish people to be tested for the presence of PFAS in their blood, and therefore proposes to increase the testing capacity even further. We expect that this will also mean that residents of greater Antwerp can (finally) be tested, just like former residents of hotspots. 
• the commission wants 3M to pay for all the pollution. It proposes that a fund be set up so that workers and residents whose health suffers from PFAS poisoning can receive compensation for their medical costs.
• the commission proposes to have 3M discharge less PFAS in the area around Zwijndrecht. If our neighbouring countries impose stricter discharge standards, Flanders must do the same.
• the commission proposes to make it mandatory that everything in the supermarket must indicate whether it contains PFAS. The commission also wants to work towards the eventual elimination of non-essential PFAS.

There are still several points for action on the table:

• all PFOS blood tests must map health complaints of those tested, including through anamnesis. This will allow us to gain even more information about the impact of PFOS poisoning.
• there is still no insight into the entire pollution of our region. Only a small part of the pollution around 3M has been mapped; in Antwerp almost no research has been done.
  Groundwater pollution was even deliberately not included in the BBO, which is incomprehensible.
• after a year, hardly any remediation has been done. The remediation of our region must start quickly but above all thoroughly, so that as much PFAS as possible is removed from our living environment. Oosterweel must not be an obstacle to that remediation.
• there must be a prospect of compensation for all those affected, including people whose property has been contaminated (such as local residents and farmers) and people who have not (yet) become ill but do have high PFOS levels in their blood. 

Of course, a lot of parliamentary work still needs to be done before these recommendations become law.
We would like to help develop this legislation. Who can we contact for this? Hannes Anaf, Koen Daniels, Chris Janssens, Imade Annouri, Bart Claes, Piet De Bruyn, Stijn De Roo, Gwenny De Vroe, Andries Gryffroy, Joris Nachtergaele, Freya Perdaens, Tinne Rombouts, Mieke Schauvliege, Willem-Frederik Schiltz, Stefaan Sintobin, Jos D'Haese

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