Hydrogen’s toxic secret worries a town in northern France

By Leonie Cater | 10/08/2024 12:09 PM EDT

Green hydrogen is central to Europe’s energy transition, but it relies on potentially dangerous “forever chemicals.”

French farmer Jean-Louis Dudoux holds organic eggs at his farm.

French farmers this summer wondered how PFAS got into their eggs. AFP via Getty Images

This summer, residents of the northern French town of Villers-Saint-Paul received a disturbing warning: Don’t eat your chickens’ eggs.

Tests had revealed that local eggs contained a cocktail of potentially dangerous PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” a group of human-made substances that do not break down and can cause serious health problems including cancer, liver damage and fertility issues.

How did these toxic chemicals get into the eggs? The answer was not entirely clear, but suspicion fell on a nearby factory run by U.S. chemicals giant Chemours, which produces PFAS.

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Ironically, it was Chemours itself that had conducted the tests under an agreement with the regional authorities.

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