ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Protect citizens’ rights with concrete actions to address one of the most complex environmental and health challenges of our time. This is the objective of the Manifesto “Towards the Elimination of the PFAS” undersigned by Utilitalia, the Federation of Water, Environment and Energy Companies, Legambiente, the main Italian Environmental Association and Consumers’ Forum, which brings together the most important associations of consumers and companies in the sector, signed today in Rome at the Senate of the Republic. Valeria D. Di Giorgi Gerevini, representing the Ministry of Health, Giuseppe Bortone, Director of the Environment and Health Department of the ISS and Luca Lucentini, Director of the National Water Safety Centre (ISS).
PFAS, a group of over 10,000 synthetic chemicals used for the production of durable and durable materials, are widely present in coatings and everyday products. Their high chemical stability makes them persistent in the environment and difficult to degrade, with significant consequences for citizens’ health and public service management. In recent years, several international institutions have defined increasingly stringent guidelines to limit its diffusion, introducing limit values and containment measures.
In this context, the Manifesto promotes an approach based on scientific evidence and certain data and emphasizes the importance of collaboration between enterprises, institutions, associations and citizens. Among the main actions proposed by subscribers are the elimination and progressive replacement of PFAS with safer alternatives, accompanied by the definition of a medium-long term regulatory framework, able to guide industrial innovation towards sustainable solutions.
Central is also the application of the principle “the polluter pays”, in order to avoid the costs of management and treatment fall on the community, together with the promotion of research and development of effective alternatives in respect of human health and the environment. The Manifesto also aims to strengthen technological solutions for the reduction and reduction of PFAS in water and waste treatment systems, as well as support for the transition paths of the industrial system and service managers, also through dedicated financial instruments.
The document promotes an ambitious harmonization of European standards based on the precautionary principle and the updated knowledge of the REACH framework (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals), which remains one of the most effective tools of the EU for chemical risk management.
Utilitalia, Legambiente and Consumers’ Forum, through the signing of the Manifesto, undertake to promote among its members, institutions, enterprises and social representations, the objectives indicated, strengthen a shared responsibility and protect the health of people and the environment.
“The water service managers – explains Barbara Marinali, Vice-President of Utilitalia – constantly monitor the presence of the PFAS in the waters that distribute and have started important investments for their reduction, making use of the best technologies available to protect public health. With this Manifesto, the Federation intends to support the commitment of water service operators in the management of a problem whose solution can only be prevention. The total elimination of PFAS and the application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle are necessary: costs cannot fall solely on water service operators, therefore on citizens’ charges.
“The Manifesto represents for Legambiente a new and important starting point: the start of a collaboration that strengthens and renews the commitment of the association in contrasting the plague of the PFAS, in full continuity with the disputes that for years we carry on in the most affected territories – says Stefano Ciafani, national president Legambiente -. We want to transform the experience gained on the field into a shared and structurally capable action, taking a clear responsibility towards communities, environment and future generations. In the centre there remains a principle for us: ‘who inquina pays’, because the costs of pollution cannot fall on citizens but on those who have generated the damage”.
“As Consumers’ Forum – says Furio Truzzi – we are very happy to promote the adherence to the Manifesto of our members who want it and how many other associations of the Consumers of the CNCU and non-associated companies that will want it. The common goal, together with Utilitalia and Legambiente, is to help spread environmental and social sustainability and the protection of citizens’ rights, promoting common initiatives to reduce and replace PFAS, aware that the scope of this challenge requires the widest possible contribution.”.
-Photo Press Office – Comin & Partners-
(ITALPRESS).
