Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size On a rise surrounded by bushland in Sydney’s north-west, members of the Westleigh Rural Fire Service have spent years training, putting out blazes in preparation for the real thing. It is a peaceful spot, on the site of the old dog pound. Down the slope lies a walking trail and a creek, while the flat land next door sits vacant, awaiting council development into sporting fields. Each weekend, mountain bikers zoom through bush nearby. An aerial view of the Westleigh training facility of the NSW Rural Fire Service. Credit:Brook Mitchell What many in the area do not know - including the closest residents - is that the RFS site is chemically contaminated by toxins that have spread uphill and down. Fairfax Media can reveal that the training ground at Westleigh is one of 10 sites in Sydney, 25 in NSW and 90 sites across the nation that authorities are investigating for elevated levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS). At all but a handful of the sites, most residents have been continuing with everyday life, oblivious to the toxic threat that lurks nearby.


A Fairfax Media investigation revealed over the weekend that at least 21 children at a high school in the US have battled cancer through their school years while growing up in a city whose water supply was contaminated with chemicals called PFAS. Fairfax Media has previously revealed 50 cancer cases over a 15 year period near the Williamtown air base, an area that has also been contamined with PFAS chemicals from firefighting foam. In 2009, a global agreement was reached to ban one of the chemicals, PFOS, by listing it on the United Nation’s Stockholm Convention. In the years since, Australia is one of the only countries that has not ratified the decision, which would cost an estimated $39 million. At least 171 countries have agreed to the phase-out, including the UK, Germany and China. Meanwhile, the federal government is defending multiple class actions from towns across Australia where contamination has occurred. The Department of Health maintains there is no consistent evidence the toxins cause “important” health effects, in contrast to the US EPA, which has concluded they are a human health hazard that - at high enough levels - can cause immune dysfunction, hormonal interference and certain types of cancer in humans. The assistant environment minister Melissa Price has responsibility for the issue and was not available for comment on Sunday.


Man-made PFAS chemicals were a lucrative discovery for industry due to their unusual properties: they have been described as “virtually indestructible” in the environment and repel grease, oil and water. They were manufactured by Fortune 500 company 3M for half-a-century, with the two best known of the family called perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). PFOS was the key ingredient in 3M’s popular fabric protector Scotchguard, and was used widely in firefighting foams, food packaging and metal plating. The company also manufactured vast quantities of PFOA for sale to Dupont to produce Teflon cookware. We’ve had no warning, no news at all. Long-time resident, Warren Burgess By the time 3M made the surprise announcement it would be voluntarily exiting the PFAS business in 2000, PFOS had contaminated the blood of more than 95 per cent of the human population along with wildlife in remote corners of the globe. Due to their long biological half-life, the chemicals take years to exit the body, but average levels in the blood of Australians plummeted about 56 per cent in the decade following the phase-out announcement.


The chemicals still pose a threat in Australia today, mainly because of their use in Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), a fire retardant manufactured by 3M and used by the military, commercial airports, fire brigades and heavy industry for decades. Loading In many cases the run-off was flushed directly into the environment following training exercises, polluting the land, food chain and aquifers supplying drinking water. In NSW, 15 sites are under the microscope. Among them are eight fire brigade training grounds, including Kemps Creek and Westleigh in Sydney. Matthew Jigalin, 20, lives a street away from the Westleigh Rural Fire Service ground and regularly mountain bikes in the area. He did not know about the PFAS. Neither did Stefan Popoksvi, 20, who recalled swimming in the creek that runs near the site once or twice as a child. Long-time resident Warren Burgess, who had followed coverage of the PFAS contamination near Newcastle, said when it came to his neighbourhood, “we’ve had no warning, no news at all.”


A rock fisherman fishes at Botany Bay at the mouth of the Cooks River, where the EPA has issued warnings about eating too much of certain fish beacuse of chemical concentrations. Credit:Jessica Hromas Four commercial airports in NSW are under scrutiny, including Camden and Bankstown Airports. The Botany Bay area, near Sydney Airport, is a known hotspot and fishing restrictions were introduced at the end of last year. Loading The NSW Environment Protection Authority suggested people limit their consumption of eight species of fish caught from Port Botany and the Georges River. But when approached by Fairfax Media last week, the huddle of fishermen casting their lines into the bay at the mouth of the Cooks River near Brighton Le Sands said they were unaware of any guidelines. “I haven’t been told,” Joey Carino said around sunrise on Wednesday. Soon after he reeled in a silver trevally, one carrier of the chemical spreading through Sydney in food, water, soil and air.

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