Nearly all Dutch people want measures to be taken to combat PFAS

Roughly nine out of every ten Dutch people think measures are needed to combat pollution by PFAS, Ipsos I&O reported after conducting research for the AD. The study showed that residents of Dordrecht and surrounding areas are more concerned than the average person about the health risks in their living areas caused by the presence of PFAS. According to the newspaper, the only PFAS-producing factory in the Netherlands is the Chemours factory in Dordrecht.

According to researchers, 23 percent of the residents in the Dordrecht region are very concerned about health risks in their living environments, while seven percent of the people in the rest of the Netherlands are concerned.

Almost two-thirds (63%) of the residents in Dordrecht and surrounding areas think there are many or some health risks due to PFAS. A fifth of people in the rest of the Netherlands, excluding the Dordrecht region, believe this.

Just under a quarter of the people in the Netherlands are taking measures that they think will reduce their chances of being exposed to PFAS compared to one in three people in the Dordrecht region who do this. The most common measure is buying fewer items that contain PFAS.

Dordrecht residents are taking increasingly varied measures. One of the measures is that 59 percent have stopped eating or now eat fewer eggs made by chickens owned by private individuals. This measure is being followed by 26 percent of the population in the rest of the country.

They also swim less in natural areas (58 percent and 19 percent) and often no longer eat vegetables or fruit from vegetable gardens (49 percent and 14 percent).

Around six in ten Dutch residents are in favor of PFAS measures, such as stricter rules on production, more development of alternatives, and better check-ups of the water and companies.

Around 37 percent of the residents in the Dordrecht area mentioned closing Chemours as a suitable measure compared to 23 percent of the residents in the rest of the country who mentioned this. For the people outside of Dordrecht, this was the least chosen measure.

Around 46 percent of Dordrecht's residents support a general ban on PFAS, while 38 percent of the rest of the country also sees this as a suitable measure.

PFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, contain chemical materials that are hardly biodegradable and have been linked to cancer, higher cholesterol, and reproductive defects.

Members of the I&O research panel, which consists of 1,645 Dutch people, filled out a questionnaire for the research. In addition, 504 panel members from the Dordrecht region also filled out the questionnaire.