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Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has confirmed the federal government will now effectively ban three of the most notorious “forever chemicals” made by US manufacturer 3M by the end of this year.
But the family of the late American schoolgirl who led the worldwide campaign against this class of chemicals is calling for broader action, saying the entire range of these chemicals must be outlawed.
After multinational conglomerate 3M contaminated the world with these forever chemicals – per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) – including nearly all Australians, the company might have expected their greatest threat lay within the sterile walls of a courtroom.
But, in the end, it was Amara Strande from the midwest state of Minnesota in the United States who would prove the Wall Street giant’s most formidable opponent.
Amara Strande died in April, just weeks before Minnesota became the first place in the world to ban PFAS as a class of chemicals.
Strande’s battle with a rare liver cancer was first shared in 2018, as part of a special investigation by this masthead.
The investigation uncovered a cluster of 21 cancer cases in students from Strande’s high school, a stone’s throw from 3M’s global headquarters and where the drinking water was heavily polluted with forever chemicals, so called because they never break down in the environment.
After the stories were published, Amara led a deathbed crusade that saw Minnesota become the first place in the world to ban all non-essential uses of forever chemicals, known as “Amara’s Law”.
In Australia on Friday, Plibersek confirmed the federal government would effectively ban three of the most notorious chemical groups by the end of this year.
“After a decade of stagnation and falling behind the rest of the world under the Liberals and Nationals, Labor is taking action on industrial chemicals including PFAS,” Plibersek said.
By the end of 2023, nine toxic chemical groups listed on the Stockholm Convention including PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS will be listed on the Government’s Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management Standard.
“This means that the import, use and manufacture of over 500 chemicals that are harmful to the environment will be banned or severely restricted,” she said.
The move means Australia will join 171 other countries which have already banned one of the most dangerous forever chemicals after it was added to the Stockholm Convention in 2009.
But Amara’s father, Michael Strande, said his daughter’s world-leading campaign was about banning the entire class of 14,000 forever chemicals that are widespread in everyday consumer products, like cosmetics, contact lenses, dental floss, non-stick pans and apparel.
“It’s just a matter of time when all PFAS or most PFAS chemicals are going to be banned completely,” Strande said.
Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith, a toxic chemicals campaigner from Australia who has served on United Nations expert committees, said it was time for the federal government to listen to Strande’s message.
“I do commend the young people who have stood up overseas,” she said. “[But] whether we ever get around to it, the government ever finds the courage to stand against a very strong and powerful and influential industry, I don’t know.”
PFAS chemicals were invented in the 1930s and became prized by industry because of their oil, water and stain-repelling properties. Today they are expected to be found in the blood of all Australians, according to the Department of Health.
Overseas governments, including the United States and European Union, have linked certain types of PFAS to a slew of adverse health effects, including suppression of the immune system, raised cholesterol, hormone disruption and certain cancers.
In 2018, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age tracked down and interviewed Amara, then 16, at her home in Minnesota’s twin cities region. Only months earlier, she had spent 33 days in a coma after a volleyball-sized tumour was removed from her liver.
Amara Strande speaking at Tartan High School’s Relay For Life cancer fundraiser in 2018, a year after she was diagnosed with liver cancer. Credit: David Bowman
Her school, Tartan High School, sat within the shadow of 3M’s sprawling global headquarters. It was there, according to court documents, that 3M executives decided in the 1970s to hide the contamination of the global population’s blood and studies where the chemicals caused tumours in rats and wiped out an entire cohort of monkeys unexpectedly.
A study showed children who died in Strande’s neighbourhood were 171 per cent more likely to have had a cancer diagnosis than children elsewhere.
The type of cancer Amara was diagnosed with, fibrolamellar carcinoma, is extremely rare, affecting about one in five million, and has a five-year survival rate of 32 per cent.
Scientists have speculated the cancer may be caused by something in the environment because it is triggered by a gene change that happens after birth.
Amara only discovered the extent of the contamination and the cancer toll in her hometown when this masthead’s investigation was published.
Michael Strande said 3M wielded great influence in Minnesota, including over members of parliament. During the Herald’s visit, many locals were afraid of openly criticising the company which employs over 10,000 people at its corporate headquarters.
In the years that followed, Amara schooled herself in the chemicals that had contaminated her hometown and embarked on a campaign to have them banned.
It took Amara to the steps of the State Capitol, where the final months of her life were spent lobbying Minnesota lawmakers.
The young performer’s voice, which had previously won her selection to elite choirs, rasped during her speeches as a result of a tumour attacking the nerves in her spinal cord.
Michael Strande said chemical industry lobbyists swarmed on the city to try to thwart Amara’s efforts. Around a dozen companies produce PFAS internationally, in an industry worth an estimated $US28 billion ($43.9 billion).
“They were very intimidating, and did some unethical things to try to influence the legislators here to not pass these laws,” he said.
But Amara was fearless, imploring Minnesota lawmakers to resist their influence.
A ceremony held in 2018 to honour the students who had died from cancer at Tartan High School. Credit: David Bowman
She died in April this year, two days before her 21st birthday. A fortnight later legislation known as “Amara’s Law” was passed banning non-essential uses of PFAS in Minnesota. It will be implemented in a staged approach between 2025 and 2032.
Amara’s campaign was covered by local media until July, when it made the front page of The Washington Post.
Michael Strande recalled that at a press conference, a journalist asked what had changed after several previous failed attempts to have the legislation passed.
“One of the Republicans who voted yes to the bill came up front and said, in a word, Amara,” he said.
A 3M spokeswoman said the company had announced its plan to exit all forever chemicals manufacturing by the end of 2025 and would work to discontinue the use of PFAS across its product portfolio.
“We have already reduced our use of PFAS over the past three years through ongoing research and development, and we will continue to seek to innovate new solutions for customers,” she said.
Eleven other companies continue to produce forever chemicals internationally.
Before Amara died, senior government officials in the United States had been speaking to her about taking her advocacy to the national stage. Her family is determined to continue her fight.
“She challenged the goliath 3M to do what’s right,” Michael Strande said.
“Amara started something. And it’s still being played out. We don’t know where it’s gonna take us.”
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