Toxic forever chemicals that damage rivers sprayed over UK area the size of Iceland

Vast swathes of the British countryside are being sprayed in pesticides containing [“forever chemicals”](https://inews.co.uk/news/toxic-forever-chemicals-hair-blood-politicians-3106670?ico=in-line_link) that pollute our air, soil and waterways, and pose a threat to public health.

An analysis by the environmental group Fidra, shared exclusively with **i**, found that pesticides containing potentially dangerous chemicals were sprayed on the equivalent of 10.7m hectares of arable farmland in 2022 – an area roughly the size of Iceland.

The pesticides contained PFAS, or per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances, a group of more than 10,000 industrial chemicals that [studies have linked to health problems](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/damage-forever-chemicals-water-health-3034388?ico=in-line_link), including cancer, infertility and developmental issues.

PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because some can take more than 1,000 years to degrade in the environment.

**i** has called on the next government to get to grips with chemical pollution as part of our five-point manifesto [to Save Britain’s Rivers.](https://inews.co.uk/news/save-britains-rivers-i-manifesto-environmental-groups-back-3090477?ico=in-line_link)

Hannah Evans, project manager at Fidra, told **i** that limited data meant it was difficult “to truly quantify the scale” of the use of pesticides containing PFAS, but said “what we do know is deeply alarming”.

Fidra analysed data published on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive showing the use of pesticides in agricultural crop sectors across the UK.

It found the equivalent of 10.7m hectares of arable land were sprayed in PFAS pesticides in the space of one year. The data includes repeated sprays of pesticide to the same area.

“This is a direct source of environmental PFAS pollution, contributing to further contamination of soil and water sources,” Ms Evans said.

The full effects of forever chemicals on humans is still little understood, but evidence has suggested they could pose a wide range of risks.

The year is 2040. I wait in a long que to fill my canteen, hoping my local water baron will accept my payment of fresh, questionably sourced meat. My plastic cloak is sticky and uncomfortable but it protects me from the burning rain. 

After that I shall go to work as a plastsmith in my feudal hamlet. The vapour from molten plastic stings my eyes but it was a welcome promotion from scavenging the landfill for resources from the plentiful age. Black clouds protect us from the sun as smouldering lithium fires continue to burn. 

I’ll be forging plastic clubs later as the current scrap haul was tainted by chemical spills and is too brittle to make speartips. There is safety in numbers, and the raiders become more desperate every week, I can’t leave, but would have nowhere safe to go anyway.

Great, as if out shit filled rivers need more toxic chemicals now