A contamination expert is warning the spread of potentially harmful chemicals once used in fire fighting foam is likely to have affected many more parts of Australia than previously reported, including all Australian airports, all landfill sites and any locations where there has been a large fuel or chemical fire in the past 50 years.
In his submission to a Federal Parliamentary Inquiry, Associate Professor Robert Niven from the University of NSW in Canberra, says all Australian firefighter training sites, offshore and onshore oil and gas facilities, road tanker fuel loading facilities, chemical storage facilities, wastewater treatment plants, ports importing or exporting fuels and rail facilities where fuel is stored are highly likely to be contaminated with PFAS chemicals.
HIGH PFAS LEVELS REVEALED
The environmental engineer's warning comes as the ABC can reveal a woman living near and working at the Gold Coast Airport, where contamination has been confirmed, had blood tests that showed her PFAS levels are in the top five per cent of results for her age.
Jackie McDonald has worked at the airport as an Aboriginal stakeholder, overseeing cultural sites within the airport, and has regularly eaten seafood from the neighbouring Cobaki Broadwater, where the chemicals have been detected.
Her blood tests show her PFOS (a type of PFAS chemical) levels are within the top five per cent of results for people her age.
PFAS chemicals have been linked to lower birth weights in babies, reduced kidney function and increased cholesterol.
An Australian expert panel found the chemicals don't pose an increase in overall cancer risk, but the Environment Protection Authority in the US where the chemicals were manufactured, warns some of the chemicals are linked to cancer and have caused tumours in animals in studies.
Ms McDonald said she doesn't know what her results mean for her health.
"I am constantly listening to my body to see if it is telling me anything, it is a constant worry," she said.
"I keep thinking, well I have had a good life, but I am worried for my younger family members."
She said she doesn't know why her levels are so high.
"I don't know what it is caused by, is it caused by exposure while I have been in and out of the airport or is it caused by exposure from any past contamination in the Cobaki," she said.
She wants further testing of PFAS contamination in the area and more blood tests for workers and residents.
"How many people might have PFAS in their blood the same as myself or if not higher? Something is causing it," she said.
CALLS FOR MORE CHEMICAL INVESTIGATIONS, BLOOD TESTS
She isn't the only person calling for greater testing for the chemicals.
Associate Professor Niven said in his submission that all of the possible PFAS contamination sites in Australia need to be investigated by the Federal Government.
He said residents living near such sites should demands investigations and questioned why a national investigation hasn't taken place yet.
"The fact that such a national initiative is not prominent in the media suggests either that these investigations are being conducted covertly, or conducted on an ad hoc basis, or alternatively that there is deliberate inaction by Commonwealth and state governments," he wrote.
He said all industrial sites that likely had PFAS exposure and have been redeveloped for commercial or housing use 'must be considered suspect."
The Queensland Government in its submission to the Federal inquiry said it knew of 15 sites in the state with contamination, including seven airports.
It told the Federal Inquiry a further and full investigation is needed to determine "the nature and extent of PFAS contamination at airports."
It also suggests the Commonwealth offer blood tests to people who have been exposed to high levels of the chemicals.
