This isn't just about PFAS. Pollution knows no borders.
Once you've made these substances, they persist for centuries or millennia.
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.
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.
So today the Netherlands, along with Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden...
submits a proposal to the European Chemicals Agency to ban PFAS.
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.
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.
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.
To prevent that ever more people are exposed to these substances...
the standards of using some PFAS have become stricter in recent years.
As the standards are low, you must tackle the production, and we attempt to do so.
The ban should regulate the production, trade and import in one go...
in all of Europe.
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.
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.
I'm glad we tackle it with five countries...
and of course it's crucial the European Commission supports the initiative.