The operator of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport has probably been depositing poisoned soil in the surrounding area for years. Traffic, whether on the road, in the air or in the water, is increasingly poisoning our environment. While ordinary consumers are punished by measures like environmental zones, big corporations usually get away with it.
With over 700 million passengers per year, Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam is one of the largest airports in Europe. Up to 500,000 planes are allowed to land every year. In addition to the air pollution, the noise also causes problems for the people living in the vicinity. Now it has become known that the pollution goes even further. For years, the operator, Schiphol Group, had deposited soil contaminated with PFOS nearby.
PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) is a substance used in hydraulic fluids in aviation. The substance can weaken the immune system, is liver-damaging and can lead to a reduction in birth weight in newborns. The substance is also suspected of being carcinogenic. It is also very persistent, so it hardly degrades in the environment. The group of PFAS, to which PFOS belongs, is also found in certain textiles, coatings and cosmetics. The limit at which the substances are harmless is 3000 nanograms. Up to 28,000 nanogrammes have now been measured in the soil near Schiphol Airport. This exceeds the safe limit almost 10 times.
Meanwhile, a luxurious golf course is located on the contaminated area. Whether the Schiphol Group will be held accountable and have to clean or replace the soil is still open.
But the case shows how massively air traffic affects our health and is once again an example of how large corporations often contribute to environmental pollution and get away with it - at least for a long time. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens suffer from ever stricter rules to combat pollution and climate change. An absurd example: In Marseille, the permanently valid environmental zone for car drivers was planned in 2021, while due to the Corona pandemic, cruise ships stood in the harbour for months and emitted an incredible amount of emissions while "stationary", thus contributing massively to air pollution.
Air traffic in particular produces enormous amounts of ultra-fine dust. These particles are less than 100 nanometres in size and can therefore enter the human bloodstream via the lungs. From there, they can reach and damage almost all organs. Air traffic is the main source of ultra-fine dust because combustion at high temperatures produces the enormously small particles. At Stuttgart Airport, measurements in 2019 showed values between 250,000 and well over one million particles per cubic centimetre. In other areas, the values are usually between 6,000 and 15,000 particles per cubic centimetre. It would therefore be conceivable to have ultra-fine dust zones that would be activated if the values were too high and would then certainly ban older aircraft or reduce the amount of aircraft permitted.
So it's clear: we need finite, strict rules for large corporations, especially in the air and shipping sectors, so that individual citizens don't have to pay the price. Be it through environmental zones and driving bans or pollution in the air, ground and water. Unfortunately, however, politicians do not seem to dare to do this, as the large corporations have too much influence and would have to forfeit too much money.