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.