A Pfas factory in Lancashire has announced plans to close down, just days after the Guardian revealed that more than 90 residents had signed up to be involved in a potential legal claim over contamination of the local area.
AGC Chemicals Europe is consulting with employees and their union representatives about plans to cease operations at its manufacturing plant in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire. The consultation is expected to last for at least 45 days.
The company said no final decision had been made but all 190 employees and 18 agency staff would be affected.
The company said in a statement that the proposal had been made because the site had experienced “significant financial and operational challenges, generating a loss for the past four years”.
AGC Chemicals Europe is at the centre of an investigation in relation to its historic emissions of Pfoa.
Pfoa – perfluorooctanoic acid – is a type of Pfas that international research has linked to kidney cancer. Pfas, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are commonly known as forever chemicals because they do not break down in the environment. The Thornton-Cleveleys factory, which AGC Chemicals Europe bought in 1999, used Pfoa to make PTFE – polytetrafluoroethylene – another type of forever chemical used to make non-stick coatings. Pfoa was banned globally in 2020.
Between the 1950s and 2012, the facility emitted an estimated 49 tonnes of the carcinogenic chemical Pfoa.
As part of their investigations, the Environment Agency and the local council tested soil and local produce for Pfoa. After widespread soil contamination was recorded, residents have been advised to wash and peel homegrown food and to avoid eating locally produced eggs. Two allotment sites within the vicinity of the factory have also been shut down.
Last month, a government-commissioned study found there were higher-than-expected rates of kidney cancer in the vicinity of the plant.
Despite the higher rates, the study found no evidence of a cancer cluster or any environmental association, but world-leading experts described the findings as a “major source of concern” and believe further investigation, including blood testing, is necessary.
Internal documents obtained by the Ends Report previously revealed that AGC Chemicals Europe funded testing of Pfoa on monkeys in the late 1990s. Several of the monkeys involved in the study died and every single monkey experienced an increase in liver weight, a sign of toxicity.
The Guardian revealed last Friday that the law firm Leigh Day had written to AGC Chemicals Europe to say it was investigating the viability of a claim on behalf of Sam Hammond, a resident whose pet duck eggs are heavily contaminated with Pfoa.
The level of Pfoa in one of Hammond’s duck’s eggs was so high that if she ate just one a week her exposure to Pfas would exceed the European safe weekly level by 10 times.
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Leigh Day said the claim was associated with the “loss of enjoyment and usage” of her land and potential personal injuries.
More than 90 residents have indicated they are keen to be involved in any potential legal action, with 50 accessing blood tests over the summer.
In the US, the Pfas contamination crisis has already resulted in billion-dollar settlements.
AGC Chemicals Europe said that, in relation to the closure, it took its “responsibilities to protect employees, the local community and the environment very seriously”. It added: “If a decision is taken to cease manufacture, AGC Chemicals Europe Ltd remains committed to ensuring compliance with all regulatory obligations, including maintaining the necessary staff for environmental permit compliance and any environmental monitoring that may be required.”
In response to last week’s story, the company told the Guardian that, “while it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases or allegations, the multi-agency health cell report concluded that there was no evidence of a statistically significant kidney cancer cluster, no clustering of cases close to the current AGC Chemicals Europe Ltd site, and no indication of a link to environmental levels”.
The firm stopped using Pfoa in 2012 but continues to produce and emit another type of Pfas chemical called EEA-NH4.
The Health and Safety Executive is consulting on whether to classify this chemical as a “possible carcinogen”.
