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Residents of Jersey have been recommended bloodletting to reduce high concentrations of “forever chemicals” in their blood after tests showed some islanders have levels that can lead to health problems.
Private drinking water supplies in Jersey were polluted by the use of firefighting foams containing PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) at the island’s airport, which were manufactured by the US multinational 3M.
PFAS, a family of more than 10,000 chemicals, can build up in the body and are linked to conditions such as kidney and bladder cancer, thyroid disease and immune deficiency.
Bloodletting draws blood from a vein in measured amounts. It is safe and the body replenishes the blood naturally, but it must be repeated until clean.
“I just want this out of my body. I don’t want to end up with bladder cancer,” said Sarah Simon, a resident from the polluted area who has high levels in her blood.
In response to the blood results, the government established an independent PFAS scientific advisory panel to advise public policy. The panel’s first report recommended that the government should look at offering bloodletting to affected residents.
“Studies show that bloodletting is an effective way to lower levels of PFAS in blood,” said Ian Cousins, one of the panel members, though he added that there were no guarantees the process would prevent or cure diseases associated with the chemicals.
The therapy costs about £100,000 upfront and then as much as £200,000 a year. The panel is also considering the benefit of the drug cholestyramine, which a study has shown reduces PFAS in blood more quickly and cheaply, albeit with possible side effects. The government says it plans to launch a clinical service by early 2025.
Contamination persisted on the island for decades. “We know they started to use 3M’s firefighting foam in the 1960s and then ramped up in the 1990s in weekly fire training exercises, after which foam started to appear in nearby streams,” said Jeremy Snowdon, a former Jersey airport engineer who drank contaminated water for years. He has measured elevated levels of PFAS in his own blood and has high cholesterol.
Jersey discovered PFAS in groundwater in the mid-1990s. 3M met officials from island about their firefighting foams in September 2000 and stopped making the product at about the same time.
It was not until 2006, however, that residents living in St Ouen’s Bay, part of the “plume area” affected by PFAS contamination, were moved to mains water supplies.
“Why did they allow us to keep drinking the well water all that time?” said Graeme Farmer, who lived next to the airport in the 1990s with his family.
Farmer has multiple myeloma, a type of leukaemia linked to PFAS exposure in some studies. He said doctors had taken a bone marrow sample to assess the cancer’s progressionand found it to have been extremely slow, indicating it started around 1998. His father developed kidney and bladder cancer around the same time, reinforcing their belief that the illnesses had been caused by drinking polluted water.
Graeme Farmer is among the cohort of plume area residents offered blood tests by the state. Tests on 88 islanders showed that 70% of them had levels of perfluorohexanesulphonic acid (PFHxS) above safe thresholds, potentially affecting brain development and thyroid function. More than 30% had elevated levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), a possible carcinogen, and 18% had high levels of the carcinogen perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
The thresholds were above those found in 95% of the US population. All these persistent, bioaccumulative compounds are now banned under the Stockholm convention. “These people have been exposed since the 1990s, so they could have had very high levels back then,” said Cousins.
PFAS contamination has also affected public water supplies. Jersey Water stopped using the most polluted borehole more than 15 years ago, but only ceased using five other contaminated sources in 2022. All of its reservoirs contain PFAS deemed to be at medium risk levels.
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“The whole island is exposed really,” said Cousins, because mains water is a “little bit elevated compared to where we would like it to be”.
Worried about their health as a result of the mains water findings, more than 100 residents outside the plume area had their blood independently tested. The unverified results showed that 57% had levels of PFHxS above US safety thresholds and 15% exceeded levels for PFOS. Many reported health problems they thought could be linked to PFAS exposure.
Jersey Water said that “during 2024, the water supplied by Jersey Water was 100% compliant with applicable standards for PFAS”. The company did not, however, rule out using contaminated supplies again, given that Jersey’s drought-prone water supply has only 120 days of reservoir storage.
“Our current operating policy is to only use these affected sources during significant drought and only ever in conjunction with the desalination plant,” Jersey Water said.
For residents such as Snowdon, eliminating PFAS in their blood seems pointless if their drinking water remains contaminated. “We know it’s everywhere, but we want Jersey Water to reduce their levels,” he said. “The authorities seem to say that the plume is the only area of contamination, but it isn’t.”
Cousins agreed and stressed the importance of addressing the plume, saying the government “needs to make sure that contamination is removed or contained, so it doesn’t spread and cause problems with crops and so on”.
A government test last year found PFOS in potatoes from the plume area at 10 times the European Commission’s recommended levels, and elevated levels on the opposite side of the island.
The Jersey government said these amounts were below tolerable thresholds, but a European Food Safety Authority spokesperson disputed this analysis. “It would be misleading to assert that there is no public health risk based solely on potato consumption levels,” they said. “Risk assessment should include all dietary sources of PFAS and water quality data to accurately evaluate potential health impacts on the population in Jersey.”
Despite the growing evidence of health effects, compensation remains unlikely. Jersey’s government signed a confidential deal with 3M in 2005, agreeing not to pursue legal claims for £2.6m towards cleanup. Jersey must also assist 3M in defending any future claims.
A source who asked not to be identified said Jersey needed 3M’s permission to proceed with blood tests to avoid corporate backlash. “The state got an agreement to do individual blood tests, but not screening, as that could be the first step towards a possible class action lawsuit.”
Rob Bilott, the lawyer who won the first major PFAS case against the US chemical company DuPont, said he was surprised by how restrictive the deal was. “I’ve not seen something like this where there’s an agreement to try to help the company against claims by others,” he said. “Particularly if it’s something affecting public health and safety or research.”
One resident, Debbie Thorn, said: “It’s the biggest cover-up that’s ever happened on this island. The scientific panel is doing what any should do, but it’s the government’s way to provide lip service.”
The Jersey government said it was “committed to transparency, public safety, and environmental protection in addressing the challenges posed by PFAS”.
A 3M spokesperson said: “3M announced in 2022 that we would exit all PFAS manufacturing globally by the end of 2025 and are on schedule to do so.”
