“eternal pollutants” found in 94% of people tested, according to a study

The hair of 152 people was analyzed as part of this campaign led by environmentalist deputy Nicolas Thierry. Personalities like Nagui or Mélanie Laurent took part.

At home, at your neighbors, at work… PFAS are everywhere. At the end of an analysis campaign carried out for seven months across France, the environmentalist deputy Nicolas Thierry revealed, Thursday March 21, that 94% of the people tested present residues of at least one substance belonging to perfluoroalkyls and to polyfluoroalkyls, also called “eternal pollutants”.

As part of this analysis campaign, the hair of 152 people was tested for the presence of 12 PFAS, in twelve geographical areas. PFOA, banned since 2009, and PFOS, banned since 2020, were both found in more than 60% of cases. These two substances are classified as proven carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. “On average, each person has 2.5 PFAS in their body”, notes the study. One of them, which resides “in Lyon, in the valley of chemistry”displays the record of eight PFAS residues detected.

Stars lend themselves to analysis

Among the “guinea pigs” are 13 personalities who agreed to take part in the experiment. Ten of them – including actress Mélanie Laurent, activist Camille Etienne, hosts Nagui and Laury Thilleman, freediver Alice Modolo, star dancer Léonore Baulac and even comedians Yann Marguet and Nawell Madani – are “contaminated by at least one PFAS”continues the study, which intends to alert on a “health scandal”.

“No one escapes PFAS, we are facing pollution on an unprecedented scale”affirms Nicolas Thierry, who will submit a bill to the National Assembly on April 4 to request in particular a ban on the manufacture, import and marketing of products containing PFAS. “Having succeeded in convincing these personalities allows us to help bring this subject to the forefront of the media scene. It is more than urgent to act politically”says the elected official in a press release.

The metropolis of Lyon took legal action on Tuesday to try to enforce the “polluter pays principle” to industrialists Arkema and Daikin in the issue of PFAS, the eternal pollutants which require costly work on its drinking water networks. The two groups have been using PFAS for years in their Pierre-Bénite factories, downstream of Lyon, in the chemical valley, but the nature and volume of their releases over time remain poorly known.