Hydrogen’s toxic secret worries a town in northern France

[DrQ]

Hydrogen’s toxic secret worries a town in northern France​

Green hydrogen is central to Europe’s energy transition, but it relies on potentially dangerous “forever chemicals.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/hydrogen-toxic-secret-france-worried-chicken-eggs-pfas-forever-chemicals/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic/climatechange

Tests had revealed that local eggs contained a cocktail of potentially dangerous PFAS, or "forever chemicals," a group of man-made substances that do not break down and can cause serious health problems including cancer, liver damage and fertility issues.​

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Regional authorities say they don't know if the pollution comes from the Chemours factory, pointing out some of the types of PFAS chemicals in the eggs — including those with the highest concentration — are not associated with the factory, though others are. They'll conduct further tests to make the conclusions "more reliable."​

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At the heart of this dispute is a tension playing out all over the world. As countries rush to develop new technologies in an effort to halt catastrophic climate change, many of these technologies are turning out to have unforeseen side effects that pose grave risks of their own, some of which, like with those associated with PFAS, science is only just beginning to understand.​

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Chemours' Villers-Saint-Paul factory already produces those chemicals for use in fire-fighting foams and stain-resistant coatings for textiles and building materials. The company's new investments aim to ramp up manufacturing capacity to produce Nafion — a chemical that helps separate water into hydrogen and pure oxygen in the electrolysis process.​