But it's toxic enough that when it builds up it causes problems that are very difficult to detect.
Finding a less toxic alternative isn't easy - it took decades to discover the toxicity of the current chemical, specifically because its toxicity is so low.
Maybe, just maybe, and work with me here, it's not that big a deal. Treating everything as if it were plutonium isn't a sustainable way to move humanity forward.
Anathema to the EU's way of thinking, certainly... yet defensible from an objective point of view.
Even if the end result is inert, there are probably a LOT of waste byproducts that are pretty nasty--this is fluorine chemistry, after all.
If the site is just dumping those, that's going to be bad.