UK failing to match EU in fight against ‘forever chemicals’, say scientists

Experts criticise Defra's decision not to use OECD definition of PFAS, with one asking if move is politically based'

• What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?

Leading scientists have criticised the UK government for failing to take stronger action to tackle forever chemical" pollution and refusing to match moves in the EU to ban non-essential uses of the substances.

Last year, 59 experts in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) sent a letter to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) asking it to follow the science, which has established that PFAS do not biodegrade and that despite variations in toxicity, this persistence itself is sufficiently worrying that all PFAS should be regulated as one class.