video

Stientje van Veldhoven – State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management:
This isn't just about PFAS.
Pollution knows no borders.

Martijn Beekman – Program manager PFAS restriction RIVM.
Once you've made these substances,
they persist for centuries or millennia.

On-screen text: European Bans on PFAS.

Voicecover:
Recent studies show that chemical substances that are called PFAS and are used in many products, persist in the environment.
And some PFAS chemicals are
more harmful to health than we thought.

Martijn Beekman – Program manager PFAS restriction RIVM.
The main concern is the endlessness.
We don't know everything yet.
You can't remove them.
The current PFAS concentrations are so high that we ingest or inhale too much.

Voiceover:
So today the Netherlands, along with
Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden submits a proposal to the European Chemicals Agency to ban PFAS.

Stientje van Veldhoven – State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management:
This proposal intends to impose
a European ban on all types of PFAS save a few essential applications, like medical ones we can't do without yet.
We can't solve this alone.

It only works if we reduce PFAS everywhere in Europe and we won't use it anymore.

Voiceover:
PFAS are in various products, like non-stick pans, cellphones and sun lotion.
Via the production and waste flows, these
substances end up in our food and water.

Stientje van Veldhoven – State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management:
By banning the entire group in one batch we prevent one group from being replaced by another that only years later
may appear just as harmful.

Voiceover:
To prevent that ever more people are exposed to these substances the standards of using some PFAS have become stricter in recent years.

Martijn Beekman – Program manager PFAS restriction RIVM.
As the standards are low, you must tackle
the production, and we attempt to do so.

Voiceover:
The ban should regulate the production,
trade and import in one go in all of Europe.

Stientje van Veldhoven – State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management:
We've come a long way, but there's still a lot to do.
We have one more year, so it'll be tight...
but as a Dutch citizen, I'm proud the RIVM plays such an important role.

Martijn Beekman – Program manager PFAS restriction RIVM.
It's unique to draw up this proposal in a joint effort by five countries.
What may be even more unique is the list of substances.
The PFAS group includes thousands of substances with myriad applications.

Stientje van Veldhoven – State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management:
I'm glad we tackle it with five countries and of course it's crucial the European Commission supports the initiative.

Logo National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport appears on screen.

On-screen text: More information?
www.rivm.nl/en/PFAS