People who eat fruit and vegetables from their vegetable garden within a radius of 1 kilometer around Chemours chemical company in Dordrecht, get too many harmful substances in their body. The RIVM is warning these people not to eat the crops, because "health effects cannot be excluded".
It concerns the harmful poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS. These are chemicals that are used, for example, in fire-fighting foam, as non-stick coatings for pans and as water-repellent protection for clothing.
Chemours emitted two types of PFAS. Until 2012, when the company was still called DuPont/Chemours, it was perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). As of 2012, it is GenX.
The substances are harmful to health and the environment. They can accumulate in the body, can cause various types of cancer and they may have an effect on reproduction and the unborn child.
The RIVM previously conducted research on home-grown fruits and vegetables near Chemours. In 2019, for example, it concluded that local residents could eat vegetables from their own gardens "in moderation". Local residents were exposed to the potentially carcinogenic substances via the air and drinking water. By eating their vegetables they would exceed the values that the RIVM considers safe.
No warning for vegetable gardens at greater distances
People who eat crops from vegetable gardens within 5 and 10 kilometers southwest of the chemical plant in Dordrecht do not ingest too much PFAS. Also vegetable gardens 15 kilometers to the northeast do not contain too much of the harmful substance. They can continue to eat their crops as usual, states the RIVM in the study.Kitchen gardens 1 to 10 kilometers to the northwest, northeast or east of Chemours and kitchen gardens about 2.5 kilometers to the southwest do not contain too much PFAS. The levels of the harmful substances are, however, higher than in other vegetable gardens further away from the company.
Residents can continue to eat these fruits and vegetables, but the RIVM advises alternating the crops with products from the store. These contain less PFAS, according to the institute. "This alternation is important, because people in the Netherlands are already ingesting more PFAS than the so-called health-based limit value through other food products and drinking water."
CC: NU.nl