No wider PFAS problem detected beyond St Ouen, says Public Health director

Professor Peter Bradley Picture: ROB CURRIE. (39751621)

THERE is “no evidence of any wider problem” relating to the toxic chemical PFAS being present outside the affected area of St Ouen, according to the director of Public Health.

Professor Peter Bradley said the government was committed to tackling issues arising from PFAS, an ingredient in foam used at Jersey Airport, and would continue to work with an advisory panel of scientists.

The panel met this week to finalise recommendations for the third in a series of four reports into PFAS, which has been diagnosed to be present at “elevated levels” in a group of around 50 Islanders living near the Airport following the contamination of private borehole water supplies.

Although the latest report is not expected to be passed to the government until May, Prof Bradley said work was continuing to implement the recommendations of two previous reports, all of which were accepted by the government.

Examples of this work, he said, were the engagement of a new specialist clinician able to advise those affected, and the provision of training for healthcare workers to instil more specialist knowledge of issues related to PFAS.

Public Health is also involved in the new Water Strategy and Quality Group set up by the Environment Department.

Although some Islanders have expressed concern about a wider problem that goes beyond those diagnosed with high exposure following a testing programme in 2022, Prof Bradley said this was not currently something that Public Health recognised.

“From a Public Health perspective, our concern is really for those people who lived around the Airport, and those – such as firefighters – who may have been exposed to PFAS in the course of their work,” he said. “At the moment there is no evidence that there is any wider problem.”

Prof Bradley said that it appeared likely that the next set of recommendations from the advisory panel would include the establishment of testing on a focus group of Islanders living outside the affected area, in order to monitor the position.

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