God's own Dark Waters? How Bentham became the most PFAS polluted place in the UK <B>God's own Dark Waters?</B>: ENDS investigates how an old market town in Yorkshire became the most PFAS polluted place in the UK

The newsletter also highlights public health data showing Bentham may be a “cancer hotspot” - with cancer mortality rates at 118.6 compared to the England average of 100.0, and significantly higher than the North Yorkshire average of 92.0.

www.endsreport.com/article/1873...

North Yorkshire town has UK’s highest concentration of ‘forever chemicals’ PFAS contamination recorded in groundwater on Angus Fire site in Bentham, and includes chemicals with known health impacts

The newsletter revisits my investigation which revealed that the small rural town of Bentham, North Yorkshire, has the highest levels of PFAS pollution ever known to be recorded in the UK. Bentham is home to firefighting foam manufacturer Angus Fire.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Forever chemicals scandal comes to a head Bentham, a small town in the north of England, is proving a litmus test for a global pollution crisis

Great to see The Bureau of Investigative Journalism spotlighting my investigation into PFAS pollution in Bentham in The Spark, a newsletter that spotlights “stories from across the media and around the world that are changing the world for the better.”

the-spark-tbij.beehiiv.com/p/forever-ch...

MP urges government to close ‘loophole’ allowing Blackpool chemical firm to produce products containing PFOA <strong>EXCLUSIVE: </strong> A Labour MP has said she will urge the government to “remedy” any potential “loophole” that is allowing a chemical factory to the north of Blackpool to legally produce pro...

This comes after I revealed that the Environment Agency is allowing AGC Chemicals Europe to produce products containing PFOA – a carcinogenic forever chemical – and release it to the air, despite the chemical being globally banned since 2019.

www.endsreport.com/article/1932...

MP urges government to close ‘loophole’ allowing Blackpool chemical firm to produce products containing PFOA <strong>EXCLUSIVE: </strong> A Labour MP has said she will urge the government to “remedy” any potential “loophole” that is allowing a chemical factory to the north of Blackpool to legally produce pro...

Labour MP Lorraine Beavers has said she will urge the government to “remedy” any potential “loophole” that is allowing a chemical factory to the north of Blackpool to legally produce products containing PFOA, a globally banned and carcinogenic chemical.

www.endsreport.com/article/1937...

Wood burners linked to 2,500 deaths a year in the UK, analysis finds Use of wood-burning stoves and fires in homes is mostly unnecessary and their toxic pollution costs the NHS millions

This makes wood burners collectively more dangerous than UK roads because wood burners are killing more people annually

This analysis is on fine particulates, but doesn't even include **indoor** air pollution which will will add to total deaths

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

No prosecutions made after 15,195 wood-burning complaints in a year in England Campaigners say figures reveal a lack of enforcement with just 24 fines issued by councils for rule violations

15,195 complaints about home wood-burning pollution were made in England in the last year

- result: 24 fines issued by councils, no prosecutions

#airpollution
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I think that's one of the saddest things about this situation - things that ought to create health have been poisoned @pippaneill.bsky.social spoke to one person who felt terrible that veg they'd given to friends + family might have contained harmful chemicals

Stark to hear Rosamund Kissi-Debrah recall the final days of her daughters life - who died due to air pollution - on the same day the news broke that the government will not adopt WHO air quality standards, despite pledging to do so

www.endsreport.com/article/1936...

US Senate poised to approve industry lobbyist to lead chemical safety at EPA If Douglas Troutman is confirmed, the top four toxics office at the environmental agency will be held by ex-lobbyists

An industry lobbyist is poised to lead chemical safety at the Environmental Protection Agency

Douglas Troutman is chief lobbyist for a trade group representing cleaning product manufacturers including BASF - the world's largest chemical producer

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Reap What You Sow: Exposing Lancashire's toxic town A new ENDS investigation reveals that the Environment Agency is allowing a chemicals factory to produce products containing a carcinogenic forever chemical. But how did we get here?

But, since then, emails seen by @fightingdirty.bsky.social @georgemonbiot.bsky.social @georgiaes.bsky.social reveal the firm admitting to the EA that PFOA is produced as a by-product of making another PFAS at the plant. As reported by @pippaneill.bsky.social

3
www.endsreport.com/article/1932...

Lawyers investigating group action claim over Walleys Quarry landfill Law firm Leigh Day is investigating a private nuisance group action claim against the former operators of the notorious Walleys Quarry landfill in Staffordshire.

Law firm Leigh Day is investigating a private nuisance group action claim against the former operators of the notorious Walleys Quarry landfill in Staffordshire.

www.endsreport.com/article/1935...

‘Radioactive’ shrimp crisis: Indonesia grapples with contaminated industrial zone Authorities investigate site after shrimp exported to the US found to contain hazardous isotope Caesium-137

A large industrial zone in Indonesia, is grappling with radioactive contamination after a government taskforce found traces of the hazardous isotope Caesium-137 at 22 production facilities at the site, which includes businesses that export frozen seafood.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

LISTEN NOW > BOY WASTED: A bale of plastic. A mystery body. A global investigation There’s a concrete yard with piles of plastic, and lying on the ground is the body of a boy – grotesquely ripped apart. Who was he? And what really happened to him? A team of award-winning investigati...

Listen to the full podcast here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

www.endsreport.com/article/1932...

Inside Europe – DW A weekly deep dive into the twists and turns of European current affairs, politics and culture, brought to you by Germany’s international broadcaster.

Great to hear @tesscolley.bsky.social and Adnan Khan discuss the findings of our podcast Boy Wasted on Inside Europe (31 mins in!)

"9 million containers pass through British ports every year and there are five Environment Agency officers in England checking them"

www.dw.com/en/inside-eu...

Legal challenge in ‘UK’s most PFAS polluted town’ settled out of court A legal challenge brought on behalf of a household in the UK’s ‘most PFAS polluted town’, whose property ‘may have been impacted by PFAS present on the Angus Fire site’, has been settled out of court ...

NEW: A legal challenge brought on behalf of a household in the UK’s ‘most PFAS polluted town’, whose property ‘may have been impacted by PFAS present on the Angus Fire site’, has been settled out of court with ‘no admission of liability’ by Angus Fire

www.endsreport.com/article/1934...

Walleys Quarry operator entered liquidation with possible £80m unpaid tax bill <strong>EXCLUSIVE: </strong> The operator of the notorious Walleys Quarry landfill in Staffordshire entered liquidation with a potential £80.8 million unpaid tax bill, court documents have revealed.

Campaigner Dr Mick Salt said:
"I find it reprehensible that in times of challenging public finances, HMRC have allowed an accumulation of over £80m of risk against a company with such a chequered history."

www.endsreport.com/article/1934...

Walleys Quarry operator entered liquidation with possible £80m unpaid tax bill <strong>EXCLUSIVE: </strong> The operator of the notorious Walleys Quarry landfill in Staffordshire entered liquidation with a potential £80.8 million unpaid tax bill, court documents have revealed.

🚨EXCLUSIVE 🚨 The operator of the notorious Walleys Quarry landfill in Staffordshire entered liquidation with a potential £80.8 million unpaid tax bill, court documents have revealed!

This is on top of the £600,000 it owed to the Environment Agency.

www.endsreport.com/article/1934...

‘Houses should never have been built’ near Blackpool PFAS factory, MP says <strong>Labour Party Conference:</strong> ‘Houses should never have been built’ near a chemicals factory in Blackpool that is currently at the centre of a contaminated land investigation, the constitu...

Houses should never have been built’ near a PFAS factory in Blackpool that is currently at the centre of a contaminated land investigation, the constituency MP told delegates at @chemtrust.bsky.social fringe event at the Labour Party Conference.

www.endsreport.com/article/1933...

Reap What You Sow: Exposing Lancashire's toxic town A new ENDS investigation reveals that the Environment Agency is allowing a chemicals factory to produce products containing a carcinogenic forever chemical. But how did we get here?

My recent investigation exposed that AGC Chemicals is still producing products containing PFOA and is emitting this chemical to the air.

PFOA is a globally banned and carcinogenic forever chemical.

www.endsreport.com/article/1932...

‘Houses should never have been built’ near Blackpool PFAS factory, MP says <strong>Labour Party Conference:</strong> ‘Houses should never have been built’ near a chemicals factory in Blackpool that is currently at the centre of a contaminated land investigation, the constitu...

Labour Conference: ‘Houses should never have been built’ near the AGC chemicals factory in Blackpool the constituency MP told delegates

The factory is currently at the centre of a contaminated land investigation in relation to PFAS pollution

www.endsreport.com/article/1933...

Reap What You Sow: Exposing Lancashire's toxic town A new ENDS investigation reveals that the Environment Agency is allowing a chemicals factory to produce products containing a carcinogenic forever chemical. But how did we get here?

My recent investigation exposed that AGC Chemicals Europe is still producing products containing PFOA and is emitting this chemical to the air. PFOA is a globally banned and carcinogenic forever chemical.

www.endsreport.com/article/1932...

Labour Conference: ‘Houses should never have been built’ near a chemicals factory in Blackpool that is currently at the centre of a contaminated land investigation, the constituency MP told delegates.

t.co/091gKI76dE

LISTEN NOW > BOY WASTED: A bale of plastic. A mystery body. A global investigation There’s a concrete yard with piles of plastic, and lying on the ground is the body of a boy – grotesquely ripped apart. Who was he? And what really happened to him? A team of award-winning investigati...

Listen to the Boy Wasted investigation in full here

www.endsreport.com/article/1932...

ENDS investigation shows plastic waste is a ‘public health emergency’, Labour conference hears <strong>Labour Party Conference:</strong> The government must reframe the problem of plastic waste as a public health emergency rather than just an environmental one, the co-executive director of Gree...

Labour Conference: The government must reframe the problem of plastic waste as a public health emergency rather than just an environmental one, the co-executive director of Greenpeace has said, describing Boy Wasted podcast as a “prime example of this”.

www.endsreport.com/article/1933...

LISTEN NOW > BOY WASTED: A bale of plastic. A mystery body. A global investigation There’s a concrete yard with piles of plastic, and lying on the ground is the body of a boy – grotesquely ripped apart. Who was he? And what really happened to him? A team of award-winning investigati...

🔥♻️ Search for the EcoChamber on your podcast feed to listen to thee-party Boy Wasted investigation.

Or click the link below

⬇️⬇️

www.endsreport.com/article/1932...

Barry will be hosting a panel at the Labour Conference at 2pm on Sunday, where @tesscolley.bsky.social
will be talking more about our investigation

Also on the panel:
- Lucy Taylor, Smoke Trail Productions
- Will McCallum, Greenpeace UK
- Dan Cooke, CIWM

⬇️

solidaritycafe.com

- Labour MP Barry Gardiner said: “The horrors exposed by the brilliant Boy Wasted team must not be ignored... I hope to start a campaign for real change: change that means an end to both the exportation of our waste, and the exploitation of those disposing of it.”

MP to start campaign ‘for real change’ at Labour Party conference in wake of ENDS waste investigation An MP who sits on the Environmental Audit Committee is seeking to start a campaign “for real change” in the wake of a joint ENDS investigation which revealed that hundreds of boys and men have died in...

An MP who sits on the Environmental Audit Committee is seeking to start a campaign “for real change” after our Boy Wasted Podcast revealed that hundreds of boys and men have died in recycling facilities in Turkey – a top UK plastic export destination.

www.endsreport.com/article/1933...

The panel, at 2pm on 28 September at the Staybridge Suites in Liverpool, features:

Chair - Barry Gardiner, MP

Tess Colley - ENDS deputy editor
Lucy Taylor - producer at Smoke Trail
Will McCallum - Greenpeace UK
Dan Cooke - Chartered Institute of Waste Management

Join us!