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2024 December 18 - 24 [POLITICS]

JCP Yamashita calls for tightening intake limits for PFAS in line with latest research

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Yamashita Yoshiki on December 19 at a meeting of the House of Councilors Environment Committee demanded that the government establish strict intake limits for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, based on latest research.

Yamashita pointed out that the current government-set limit of 50 nanogram per litter in drinking water for PFAS is dozens to hundreds of times higher than the limit applied in the U.S. and Europe.

Yamashita criticized the government for failing to take into account international research institutes’ recent important announcements which have been reflected in other countries’ standards and measures to limit PFAS.

Those institutes which Yamashita mentioned are: the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the WHO’s specialized cancer agency which categorized one of the PFAS compounds as carcinogenic; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which based on its findings has established a threshold of four nanogram per liter for hazardous chemical substances in tap water; and Japan’s Environment Ministry whose research pointed to a possible link between mothers’ high exposure to PFAS and chromosomal abnormality among their children.

Yamashita also referred to a calculation made by Kyoto University Professor Emeritus Koizumi Akio. Koizumi in his calculation warned that if the current upper limit on PFAS intake remains unchanged, the estimated PFAS level in the blood of Japanese people would exceed the level that is considered to pose a health concern.

Yamashita pointed out that it is unacceptable for the government to refuse to revise the current threshold by saying that information showing PFAS health risk is insufficient and limited. He demanded that in order to protect people’s health, the government take into careful consideration scientific advice.

Environment Minister Asao Keiichiro in reply said the ministry will implement comprehensive measures to protect people’s lives and the environment.