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How To Poison a Planet

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The federal government has launched legal action against multinational company 3M.

‘A bit of anger’: Residents frustrated by bombshell $2b lawsuit over ‘forever chemicals’

The lawsuit is the largest legal claim ever brought by the Commonwealth but has blindsided communities hit with the fallout of the contamination disaster.

  • Carrie Fellner and Caitlin Fitzsimmons

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Chevron in Brisbane.

Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ could be leaching into Brisbane River from industrial site

“That’s a truly dangerous level … It’s like a lightning bolt of ‘my god this is very, very serious’.”

  • William Davis
Kate with her two youngest children. Her Medlow Bath home has high levels of PFAS in the soil.

‘Nowhere to go’: Blue Mountains residents told not to eat their vegetables after PFAS found in garden soil

Residents in Medlow Bath near a suspected PFAS contamination site want their homes remediated. Instead, the NSW government has launched another investigation it says will take about 12 months – possibly beyond the next election.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Eileen McLeod and her daughter Jade Sturgeon. Jade and her sister have both had brain cancer, which is potentially linked to the PFAS contamination of Wreck Bay.

‘People are getting sick’: Urgent push to test for forever chemicals in food

A Senate inquiry has recommended limiting exposure to dangerous PFAS chemicals in Australian food and drinking water.

  • Ben Cubby
Water scientist Professor Ian Wright in a swamp about 20 metres from houses in Medlow Bath taking samples last year. He has returned to the site for further testing of the PFAS in water and sediment.

Blue Mountains residents in PFAS zone face quiz on backyard vegies and chooks

The NSW environmental watchdog will door-knock homes in Medlow Bath after testing revealed high levels of toxic forever chemicals in creek sediment and water.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
A major sewage spill along the Albert River has been labelled the Gold Coast’s worst environmental disaster.

Dead eels and gasping fish: Gold Coast council told to fix sewer issues

The latest order follows the discovery of a corroded pipe that leaked 450 million litres of sewage into the Albert River.

  • Julius Dennis
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Dr Jacinta Martin co-authored a paper on the effects of PFAS on mice fertility.

PFAS pollution lowers sperm count in mice, alters their embryos: study

The chemical exposure given to laboratory mice mimicked the real-world profile of PFAS-contaminated water from Williamtown.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Cheng Zhang (right) is leading the UQ team working to extract “forever chemicals” from the environment.

Magnets put to work to clean up ‘forever chemicals’

The carcinogenic chemicals are everywhere – in the air, water and soil – but a Queensland team is developing technology to remove them from the environment.

  • William Davis
Water scientist Ian Wright takes a water sample near Lake Medlow in the Blue Mountains.

Sydney Water ‘did not adequately test’ before claiming city’s catchment had no toxic hotspots

A parliamentary inquiry established after our reporting urges regular water and blood tests where elevated levels of the toxic chemicals have been found.

  • Max Maddison
Master fly casting instructor Peter Morse practising his casting in Wentworth Falls Lake on Monday. He does not catch or eat fish from the lake.

More than 20 new ‘forever chemicals’ found in Sydney tap water

The study comes as NSW Health accepted the recommendations of an expert panel that concluded that PFAS is low risk to human health, putting the state at odds with emerging international best practice.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons