PFOA found in Lancashire

Last week, residents from Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, were told they could be at elevated risk of serious health conditions from a substance, known as PFOA, following an investigation by the Environment Agency.

The investigation, which has been ongoing since 2024, reported that the likely source of the high levels of PFOA was a nearby chemicals factory, which used it in their manufacturing processes until 2012.

Elevated levels of PFOA have been found in the soil, eggs and locally grown vegetables.

As part of his role as statutory leader for the health and wellbeing of local residents, the Director of Public Health for Lancashire, Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, has been giving media interviews, urging local residents to treat the findings with caution.

The role of a Director of Public Health in land contamination incidents

There are over 170 Directors of Public Health (DsPH) working across England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the UK’s dependant territories, each with a statutory responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their local population.

In England, the DPH is employed by their local authority. However, their role is, in effect, to act as a ‘local Chief Medical Officer’, providing independent public health advice across the whole of the local health system, and to the public.

While they are the council’s principal public-health adviser and health-protection leader, guidance from the Department for Health and Social Care specifically says that the DPH should provide the public, as well as elected members, senior officers, the NHS and other system partners, with expert, objective health advice.

DsPH also have responsibility for their local authority’s functions in planning for and responding to emergencies that present a risk to public health and are expected to assure themselves that arrangements for protecting the health of the population are robust. If they have concerns, they have a responsibility to escalate those concerns to the most appropriate organisation.

In a situation where land becomes contaminated, the DPH is required to assess the implications for human health. In practice, this means being assured that the appropriate evidence has been brought together and whether the most effective measures are in place to reduce exposure and potential harm, both in the immediate aftermath, and for the future.

Importantly, it is not the DPH’s responsibility to gather this information and implement the necessary measures. Instead, it is to hold those who are responsible to account.

What the DPH is responsible for is to be a trusted voice for local health. As such, they have a vital role to play in communicating the facts – and any uncertainty – accurately so that the threat to the public’s health is properly understood and communicated to all.

Find out more about the role of a Director of Public Health.