Lancashire PFAS contamination threatens AGC with US-style lawsuits
A law firm is investigating a potential claim against AGC Chemicals Europe after severe PFAS contamination was found near its UK plant, signalling that billion-dollar US-style litigation over forever chemicals may be reaching Europe.
Lawyers at Leigh Day have written to AGC Chemicals Europe to investigate a potential legal claim on behalf of residents living near the company's manufacturing plant in Thornton-Cleveleys. More than 90 locals have indicated they want to join the action, and 50 have already undergone blood tests over the summer. The move follows regulatory findings of severe soil and food contamination from historical emissions of the carcinogenic chemical Pfoa.
Between the 1950s and 2012, the facility emitted an estimated 49 tonnes of Pfoa, a type of PFAS used to make non-stick coatings that was banned globally in 2020. Testing by the Environment Agency this year revealed that one resident's garden soil contained 40 times the Belgian guideline level for the chemical. Duck eggs from the same property carried such high concentrations that eating just one a week would exceed the European safe weekly exposure limit by ten times.
The contamination has already forced the local council to shut down a neighboring allotment after the Environment Agency classified it as officially contaminated land. "I just think it’s disgusting that we’ve been left in limbo like this," said Sam Hammond, the resident whose garden recorded the extreme readings. "I’ve increased my mental health medication. It’s just stressful."
The legal gathering in Lancashire highlights a growing liability risk for European industrial firms as regulators and citizens focus on the long-term impacts of forever chemicals. In the United States, PFAS contamination has already resulted in class-action lawsuits and billion-dollar settlements.
Europe has so far avoided litigation on that scale, but the regulatory and legal landscape is shifting. On 8 July, the environmental law NGO ClientEarth filed a complaint to the European Committee of Social Rights accusing the Belgian government of failing to protect citizens from widespread PFAS pollution.
AGC Chemicals Europe, which bought the Lancashire site in 1999, is pushing back against the emerging claims. A company spokesperson noted that a recent multi-agency Health Cell report found no evidence of a statistically significant kidney cancer cluster near the plant. While a government-commissioned study did find higher-than-expected rates of kidney cancer in the area, it concluded there was no proven environmental association.
World-leading experts, however, have described the study's findings as a "major source of concern" and are calling for further blood testing. As local authorities and the Environment Agency finalise their scientific and legal assessments, residents like Liz Hurst, a kidney cancer survivor from the area, are left demanding answers. "I just want to know if it has caused my cancer," Hurst said. "I’m just angry."
