ENVIRONMENTAL Health has been accused of putting islanders at risk by not taking decisive action to contain contamination caused by airport fire-fighting foam.
Health and Social Services minister Hunter Adam was put on the spot during question time yesterday by David De Lisle over what action was being taken to control the situation, which arose after the foam was sprayed on a crashed plane and, in one case, spilled.
Deputy De Lisle (pictured)asked, among other things, why dairy cows were still being allowed to graze on contaminated land.
‘Why is Environmental Health not reacting immediately, given the known risk to health and that PFOS [the foam] is a known carcinogen?’ asked Deputy De Lisle.
Deputy Adam responded that whether PFOS was a carcinogen had yet to be established.
‘Soil samples have been taken from the land to establish the level and spread of contamination and milk samples have been taken,’ he said.
‘Results have indicated that there is no risk to human health from the ingestion of local milk. There is no need to restrict grazing on contaminated ground.’
The department had, in cooperation with Public Services and Guernsey Water, been working to identify which sites had been affected by PFOS and whether there was any potential risk to public health, he said.
‘A comprehensive sampling programme is being carried out to assess methods of treatment.’
Deputy Adam said any areas that were deemed unsafe would be contained or excavated.
‘Levels in drinking water are being intensively monitored.’
He said the Food Standards Agency was also working with them.
But Deputy De Lisle was not satisfied. ‘Are you telling me that despite this substance being banned by the UN, and its own manufacturer withdrawing it from the market due to concerns of health, that there is no reason for the people of Guernsey to be concerned?’ he asked.
Deputy Adam said he had been given legal advice not to answer the supplementary question.
HM Procureur Howard Roberts, who said that negotiations regarding who would pay for the contamination could be compromised, confirmed that.
Requete on WAO report Page 5
In The States Pages 22 & 23
Article posted on 10th December, 2009 - 1.00pm
One Article Comment
ok the firemen are not allowed to use foam now !!!. tell you what if there is a bad plane accident (god forbid) what thay gonna use non contanimation foam .its one of those things unfortunatly if we gonna have planes and all other forms of transport that we all use including myself we will inevatably have some contamination on the island . we could all go back to the 1900’s and not have any form of transport it would save us a load of money but the states would probably put a ban on it lmao!x
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