Addressing the risks from Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Status / emerging findings

• PFAS are now measurable in every UK resident's blood and contaminate 98% of UK river sites; DEFRA estimates 3,000–10,000 contamination hotspots with cleanup costs of £31–121 billion.
• UK REACH has added zero PFAS substances to restriction lists since January 2021, while the EU added eight; UK restriction timelines average 4–5 years, creating a competitive disadvantage and regulatory uncertainty.
• The Government's April 2026 PFAS Plan lacks decisive prevention measures and relies on a slower, evidence-led, substance-by-substance approach rather than the EU's precautionary class-wide restrictions.
• Firefighting foam (military and civilian) is the priority target for restriction; HSE proposed 18-month to 10-year transition periods with viable alternatives already available for many uses.
• Remediation technology is nascent; most current approaches capture rather than destroy PFAS, and responsibility for cleanup is legally diffuse, with site owners often bearing costs despite contamination from multiple collective sources.

Why it matters

PFAS contamination poses documented health risks (cancer, immune suppression, fertility damage) that are already widespread in UK bodies and water; the committee found the Government's response plan is too slow and weak compared to international standards, creating a legacy cleanup bill of tens of billions while ongoing emissions continue unchecked.

Tone arc

Started cooperative and fact-finding in June 2025 (establishing PFAS ubiquity and regulatory failure), sharpened into adversarial challenge of industry claims and government timidity by September 2025 (manufacturing exemptions, lack of alternatives data), and ended confrontational in February 2026 (tension between UK's cautious, evidence-led approach versus EU's precautionary class-wide bans, and challenges to HSE and Environment Agency capacity).

Key witnesses

Minister Emma Hardy (DEFRA), Liz Parkes MBE (Health and Safety Executive), Professor Elsie Sunderland (Harvard, global PFAS expert), Professor Martyn Kirk (Australian epidemiologist), Professor Alan Boobis (UK toxicologist), David Henderson (Water UK), Stuart Ede (AGC Chemicals Europe, PFAS manufacturer), Duncan Sanders (ATG Group, remediation)