The Forever Pollution Project showed that “expert-reviewed journalism” can contribute not just to the information of the public, but also to scientific research and regulatory efforts.
Is there a ‘perfect recipe’ to work with scientists? In April 2024, as a conclusion to this journalism adventure based on the model of peer-reviewed scientific work, the Project’s methodology was published in the form of an article in the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology, where the journalists recorded their ideas about that. To build a trustful win/win work relationship with scientists, they observed the following principles are needed:
“1) before anything else, journalists have to reach a high level of expertise about the topic and a good knowledge of the scientific ecosystem and customs to avoid time wasting, misunderstandings and errors;
2) clearly stated boundaries regarding published outputs;
3) the experts’ contributions have to be recognized in any final ‘products’; and 4) both parties should benefit from each discipline’s methodologies, such as press requests and [freedom of information] FOI material collected by journalists and [open-source intelligence] OSINT methods.”*
*Quoted from our scientific paper.
As of July 2024, our data are being used in more than a dozen research projects, including a published spatial prediction of PFAS levels in EU soils, the first large-scale spatial distribution of PFAS along the French Mediterranean coast, and research through the European Commission-funded project ARAGORN (Achieving Remediation And GOverning Restoration of contaminated soils Now).
Our map has been republished in the “European Zero pollution dashboards” of the European Environment Agency (EEA), and will feature in the Nexus assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
In July 2023, a group of students at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (Switzerland) used our data to produce a research report on “PFAS in Europe: A Violation of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights”
We have been invited in academic and expert circles to present our methodology, including:
- 14th International HCH (Lindane) & pesticides forum, Zaragoza (Spain) / online, 23 February 2023.
- Side event of the United Nations’ Conference of the parties of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, Geneva (Switzerland), 02 May 2023.
- Health, environment, work: from data to evidence (Santé, environnement, travail : des données à la preuve), SciencesPo Lyon (France), 12 June 2023
- Annual meeting of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Global Soil Partnership International Network on Soil Pollution (INSOP), online, 14 June 2023.
- Soil reuse on reconstruction sites in the new Circular Economy era – Available regulatory frameworks and case studies of PFAS-contaminated sites management, National Technical University of Athens (Greece), ENYDRON / Online, 1st September 2023.
- Health and Environmental Alliance (Heal) 20th anniversary, Brussels (Belgium), 3 October 2023.
- CAR-PFAS Japan, Fourth international seminar on the consortium for analysis and remediation of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in Japan, online, 10 October 2023.
- European Commission Annual Forum on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, Brussels (Belgium), 20 October 2023.
- Tackling PFAS pollution & Launch Knowledge Center Innovative Remediation Solutions, Belgian presidency of the European Union, Government of Flanders, Antwerp (Belgium), 1-2 February 2024.
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Global Forum on the Environment dedicated to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, Paris (France), 12 February 2024.
- Keynote speech, 6th REACH Congress of the German Environment Agency – Umweltbundesamt (UBA), Dessau-Roßlau (Germany), 10-11 September 2024.