In this week’s newsletter: residents living near a chemical factory are the latest community concerned about the health and environmental impact of Pfas contamination• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereResidents within a kilometre of the AGC Chemicals Europe factory in Thornton-Cleveleys in the north of England, have found themselves at the centre of what is quickly becoming a national scandal.In 2024, the UK Environment Agency and the local authority initiated an investigation into historic emissions of Pfoa – a carcinogenic “forever chemical” that international research has linked to kidney cancer – from the factory. After environmental testing, people have been advised to wash and peel homegrown food and to avoid eating locally produced eggs, and two allotment sites near the factory have been closed.May and June heatwaves killed about 2,700 people in England and Wales, data suggestsInside the secret Laos shops selling pangolin scales, bear bile and tiger b...