Dr Shubhi Sharma, Scientific Researcher at CHEM Trust, considers the UK’s need to address its widespread PFAS pollution crisis, highlighting the price of inaction and the importance of adopting new regulatory measures.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of synthetic chemicals often called ‘forever chemicals’ because they can last for generations in the environment. Certain PFAS have been linked to health problems in people, such as hormone disruption, immune and reproductive system damage, and even some types of cancer.
PFAS pollution in the UK is widespread. The Environment Agency estimates that there are over 10,000 PFAS contamination hotspots across the UK. These hotspots include landfills, military bases, and sewage outfalls. PFAS have also contaminated people’s blood, supermarket food, drinking water, freshwater, marine environments, and wildlife such as otters, harbour porpoises, and seabirds in the UK.
PFAS pollution is so severe in some areas, like near a chemicals manufacturing plant in Lancashire, that the residents are being advised to take a ‘precautionary approach’ to eating food grown in their gardens or allotments, due to concerns that the soil is contaminated with these forever chemicals.
The UK is lagging behind the EU on regulatory action on PFAS
Despite this widespread PFAS pollution, the UK Government has taken little action to regulate PFAS, particularly compared to the ongoing actions in the European Union. For example, the EU has banned PFAS in food packaging, toys, and firefighting foams, set statutory limits on PFAS in drinking, surface and groundwater, and banned several PFAS subgroups.
In addition, the EU is currently discussing a restriction on approximately 10,000 substances in the PFAS family – this restriction is commonly known as the universal PFAS or uPFAS restriction. Some EU countries have also introduced national bans on PFAS while waiting for the uPFAS restriction to take effect. For example, Denmark and France have banned PFAS in a number of consumer uses, and France plans to introduce a tax on industrial emissions of PFAS.
In comparison, aside from adopting international bans and initiating a restriction on PFAS in firefighting foams, the UK has not restricted any PFAS since leaving the EU. However, in early December 2025, Defra published the Environmental Improvement Plan, which sets out how the government intends to
achieve their ambitions on nature. It included a commitment to publish a PFAS action plan. This plan must be bold and match the EU’s ambition to phase out PFAS as a group.
The cost of inaction
It is estimated that if emissions remain uncontrolled, the annual costs of cleaning up PFAS in the UK would be £9.9bn annually. Even if all emissions stopped today, the annual clean-up cost would still be £428m for the next 20 years. These costs only include remediating contaminated soils, landfill leachate and 5% of the drinking water in large water supply zones for two PFAS – PFOS and PFOA. The estimate does not include socio-economic costs, such as the cost of health impacts to the NHS. It is therefore of utmost urgency that we stop adding to this pollution and take bold action to mirror the EU’s uPFAS restriction.
Aligning with the uPFAS restriction is the most pragmatic way forward
In 2024, in response to the lack of UK action on PFAS, a group of more than 50 scientific experts on PFAS, specialists in epidemiology, toxicology and environmental chemistry, wrote to the UK government urging it to adopt the EU’s approach to banning PFAS as a group. They argued that, given the sheer number of PFAS, regulating them one substance at a time is neither appropriate nor feasible. This has been demonstrated by the approach to regulating PFOS and PFOA – just two types of PFAS. They have been banned internationally due to their persistence and other hazardous properties, but have simply been replaced by other PFAS, whose levels are now steadily rising in the environment. Therefore, regulating PFAS as a group is the most pragmatic way to control the PFAS pollution crisis.
In 2025, a coalition of NGOs –CHEM Trust, Fidra, the Marine Conservation Society, Wildlife and Countryside Link, and Breast Cancer UK – developed a joint proposal for regulating PFAS in the UK. The proposal highlights the severity of PFAS pollution in the UK and outlines key steps that the UK government can take to address the environmental and health risks associated with PFAS. It recommends that the UK align with the EU’s approach to regulating PFAS as a group. It also recommends that the UK introduce targeted sector-specific bans, drawing on successful models already implemented in Denmark and France. The proposal highlights that UK regulators (both the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency) do not have the capacity to regulate at the same scale and pace as the EU. A regulatory system that defaults to aligning with EU chemical safety laws would provide a long-term, cost-effective and sustainable approach to regulating chemicals.
PFAS-free innovation is on its way
Fortunately, many companies are already moving away from PFAS. Alternatives to PFAS are being developed for many uses, including critical uses such as in green technologies like hydrogen, solar panels and lithium batteries. Over 100 companies have joined the ‘No PFAS Corporate Movement,’ organised by the Swedish NGO ChemSec. Many more are replacing PFAS in cosmetics, fashion, and medical devices.
CHEM Trust supports the universal PFAS restriction and calls for regulation to support the innovation of safer, PFAS-free alternatives.
Dr Shubhi Sharma, Scientific Researcher at CHEM Trust, said: “Too often, the world ignores early warning signs of harm and learns lessons far too late. PFAS are widely acknowledged as a major threat to wildlife, communities, our health, and industries such as the farming and water sectors. Tackling PFAS in the environment and addressing health impacts comes with a multi-billion-pound price tag. The UK government must not delay in regulating these forever chemicals to turn off the tap on PFAS pollution.”
