Liz Hurst was sitting looking out to sea near Blackpool when she described the moment her life changed. A new house, a new job, a marriage — everything was within reach. Then, fifteen years ago, she was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and she has spent the time since wondering whether the factory less than a kilometre from her home had anything to do with it. That factory, operated by AGC Chemicals Europe in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, emitted 49 tonnes of perfluorooctanoic acid — PFOA — into the surrounding environment between the 1950s and 2012.

PFOA belongs to a class of synthetic compounds known as PFAS, or "forever chemicals", because they do not break down in the environment or in the human body. International research has linked PFOA specifically to kidney cancer. The Thornton-Cleveleys plant used the chemical to manufacture PTFE, the nonstick coating found on cookware worldwide. PFOA was banned globally in 2020, eight years after the facility had already stopped emitting it — but the contamination it left behind did not disappear with the legislation.

In 2024, the UK Environment Agency and the local authority launched an investigation into the historic emissions. Testing prompted officials to advise residents to wash and peel all homegrown vegetables, to stop eating locally produced eggs, and to close two allotment sites near the plant. This week, citing "significant financial and operational challenges", AGC Chemicals Europe announced it would shut the factory entirely.