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Short abstract

PFAS are anthropogenic persistant chemicals simultaneously sought-after as products and undesirable as residues. Their dual nature, asymmetrically considered, has allowed them to ubiquitously inhabit our world. Based on interviews, I argue that current Belgian responses are inadequate.

Long abstract

PFAS are sought-after chemicals for their incredible resistance properties. As they escape the confines of their intended uses they become reluctant residues. They are not only physical residues, but also infrastructural remnants of past activities. Sites of production, innovation or waste management have been permanently transfigured physically and epistemically by their presence. PFAS are simultaneously the results of industrial activity and sediments of political decisions and processes. Their ubiquitous presence is symptomatic of the inability for current regulatory chemical frameworks to address complex slow disasters (Knowles, 2020).

Companies knew of the pervasiveness and dangers of PFAS, but kept producing them while multiplying their uses, thoroughly embedding the material in modern industrial processes and society. I argue that asymmetric access to knowledge, specifically unseen science (Richter et al., 2018), combined with innovation imperatives and cost-benefits-based (Boudia, 2014) decision-making which consistently overlooks the externalities of the chemical economy, have allowed a worldwide problem to fester. Now publicly exposed (no pun intended), pressure for action is building.

Hence, Belgian authorities have launched waves of biomonitoring aimed at specific known hotspots offering limited insights on the extent of the pollution. Filters are being installed in water distribution facilities, addressing the consequences while the causes remain largely unattended. Simultaneously, carefully crafted uncertainty induced a lethargic regulatory response. From interviews with key actors (amongst which toxicologists, waterplant managers and contaminated citizens), I propose to examine the shortcomings of current responses and the inability to address the PFAS crisis under current normative and knowledge making practices.