“First you assume the government and municipality protect the safety of their citizens. Then you get information saying that there’s nothing wrong and assume that at least that is true… But we’ve lost our trust in them now, that’s for sure”, Marga and Ted van der Vlies say in a recent documentary called The PFAS Cover-up.
They’ve lived close to a chemical manufacturing site in the village of Dordrecht in the Netherlands for many decades. Like many of their neighbours, Marga and Ted have PFAS levels in their blood that fly way above safety standards. As a result, they can’t eat their homegrown vegetables. In addition, Ted now suffers from skin cancer and leukaemia.
Citizens of Dordrecht were told by the authorities that all was fine
The chemical site — now owned by Chemours but formerly by DuPont — has been releasing toxic PFAS chemicals into the local air and water streams. But for a long time, the citizens of Dordrecht were told by the authorities that all was fine, that there was no need to worry.
Similar stories are emerging from other PFAS hotspots across Europe, such as Antwerp, Ronneby and Veneto. This should make the alarm bells ring for governments and elected officials, not only in these towns but worldwide.
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And, in this case, we’re not even talking about the countless health and environmental reasons for sounding the alarm. We’re talking about the fact that today’s lax chemicals regulations and poorly enforced standards are creating disillusionment and eroding people’s trust in their governments.
This inevitably leads to people asking questions like: “Why didn’t the government protect me and my family from these harmful substances? And if they didn’t protect me from this, how do I know they’ll protect me from that?”
To be honest, there’s currently not a whole lot of research on the link between exposure to harmful chemicals and political trust. But a study from China came to a pretty predictable conclusion when investigating the political impacts of air pollution. When pollution increases, citizens’ trust in their local governments decreases.
The eroding of trust in authorities should be a reason in itself to tighten the chemicals regulation
Unlike smog, you can’t see or smell most of the toxic substances — like PFAS — in your surroundings. That makes it even more upsetting when people learn that they’ve been exposed to it for years.
This is not only a problem in a few polluted towns. Today, all of us walk around with a cocktail of toxic chemicals in our bodies. According to The UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, this has led to a “silent pandemic” of diseases, disabilities and premature death around the world. While most people are still unaware of the chemical pollution we’re exposed to on a daily basis, mainstream media is now talking about it more and people are starting to catch on.
For people currently wielding political power, the eroding of trust in authorities should be a reason in itself to tighten the chemicals regulation. And that’s without even mentioning all the health and environmental reasons.
