Kidney cancer rates near Pfas factory in Lancashire a ‘major source of concern’

Residents in Thornton-Cleveleys have been advised not to eat fruit, vegetables or eggs produced within 1km of the factory. Photograph: Protoggy.com/Alamy View image in fullscreen Residents in Thornton-Cleveleys have been advised not to eat fruit, vegetables or eggs produced within 1km of the factory. Photograph: Protoggy.com/Alamy Kidney cancer rates near Pfas factory in Lancashire a ‘major source of concern’ Experts cast doubt on conclusion of government-funded study of factory emitting forever chemicals near Blackpool Concerns have been raised about the conclusions drawn by a government-funded study that looked at rates of kidney cancer in the vicinity of a factory using forever chemicals near Blackpool . Pfoa, which is a known carcinogenic forever chemical that was globally banned in 2020, was emitted from the AGC Chemicals Europe factory in Thornton-Cleveleys, a town north of Blackpool, between the 1950s and 2012. During this period, approximately 49 tonnes of Pfoa were emitted into the air. The factory, which AGC Chemicals Europe bought in 1999, stopped using Pfoa in 2012. Pfas, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are commonly known as forever chemicals because they do not break down in the environment. Pfoa was used by AGC Chemicals Europe to make PTFE, another type of forever chemical used to make the non-stick coatings of cookware. As part of continuing investigations in Blackpool, experts from Lancashire county council, the UK Health Security Agency, NHS partners, the National Disease Registration Service, Wyre council and the Environment Agency formed a health cell and carried out a screening of cancer rates between 2003 and 2022 in several small geographic areas within a 5km radius of the factory. The screening did not find higher than expected rates for most cancers, but it found that two areas, one south-east of the factory and one north of Blackpool, had “higher than expected” rates of kidney cancer. International research has linked Pfoa exposure to kidney cancer. The multi-agency study then examined the findings in further detail but found no evidence of a statistically significant excess of kidney cancer cases and no evidence of a cancer cluster or an environmental association. Based on this, the report concluded: “No further cluster investigation is warranted at this stage.” However, Dr David Megson, a forensic environmental scientist at Manchester Metropolitan University who was not involved in the study, described this conclusion as being “very contradictory” and said it “seems to downplay the findings rather than assess it objectively”. Having reviewed the full study, he said it had clearly identified a higher than expected number of kidney cancer cases in close proximity to a factory that “released chemicals that are known human carcinogens, with links specifically to kidney cancer. This to me is a major source of concern.” The report states that the elevated kidney cancer rates in the two geographic areas could b