news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

According to Xinhua News Agency, after the detection of organic fluorine compounds in groundwater in Settsu City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan exceeded the standard by more than 400 times, local civil groups organized blood tests for more than 1,000 nearby residents. The latest survey results show that about 30% of the subjects have excessive levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in their blood.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are difficult to degrade and will accumulate in the environment and human body, and are called "permanent chemicals". In 2023, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency under the World Health Organization, listed one of the representative substances, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), as a carcinogen, and another representative substance, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), as a possible carcinogen.

A water quality survey last year showed that the content of organic fluorine compounds in groundwater in Settsu City, Osaka Prefecture reached 420 times the provisional national standard in Japan. After more than 30 nearby residents were found to have abnormal blood tests at the end of last year, a private group decided to expand the scope of testing and conduct blood tests on more than 1,000 residents.

The non-governmental organization held a press conference on the 11th to announce the results of the investigation. Among the 1,190 residents in Osaka Prefecture and Hyogo Prefecture who underwent blood tests, about 30% of them had excessive levels of perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances in their blood. The group asked the Japanese central government to provide free blood tests for residents and take corresponding measures.

Since last year, Okinawa Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture and Tokyo have successively reported excessive levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in water, and blood tests of nearby residents have been abnormal. Since most of the incident areas are close to US military bases and Japanese Self-Defense Force bases in Japan, these bases are considered possible sources of pollution. In addition, some factories are also suspected of causing pollution.

In May this year, Japanese government departments launched a nationwide survey on harmful substances in tap water, requiring all regions to report relevant information such as the content of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in tap water at approximately 12,000 locations before the end of September.

Edited by Mao Tianyu