A man has described his shock after "bombshell" results showed he had "really high levels" of a potentially cancer-causing forever chemical in his blood.

Mario Panteli lives near AGC Chemicals factory, formerly ICI, in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, which used perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in their manufacturing processes until 2012.

He is among dozens of residents who live near the plant who have been told they could be at elevated risk of serious health conditions from the substance.

The father-of-five, who has another child on the way, was emotional when he received his results, saying he did not expect to be so impacted by the chemicals but his "main concern" was for his children's health.

The village has been under investigation for years by the Environment Agency over contamination of soils and locally grown food from the substance, which is a type of forever chemical - so-called because they do not easily break down.

Residents previously asked the council to test their blood for the chemical but according to the UK Health Security Agency, PFAS monitoring is not currently recommended because "tests are unlikely to provide clear information for individuals".

Instead independent tests were offered by Manchester Metropolitan University, paid for by investigative journalists Watershed and Law for Change - which funds cases covering environmental issues.

Forty-nine residents volunteered, and they were told their blood test readings on Wednesday which showed 70% had increased levels of PFOA.

Panteli, who has chickens and ducks, stopped eating their eggs when residents were advised to stop consuming them.

While he was expecting some traces of the chemicals, he said "what I actually got was shocking".

"I thought there'd be something in me because I know... the soil was contaminated," he said.

"So chickens, ducks, they eat rummage through the soil, eat the worms which obviously in turn are in the soil, so it makes sense."

Panteli said the result had not yet sunk in but left him with a number of concerns especially for his family.

"It's a lot of information to take in at the moment," he told BBC North West Tonight.

He said he was going to call his GP straight away "to see what help they can provide and what measures I can take for my family and my pregnant wife".

As well as worries over their health, he said he feared being stuck living in a contaminated area.

Panteli said: "I bought a property assuming this is our forever home... and now I've got this bombshell of data that basically says it's an unsafe house to be in.

"That means I'm going have to stop my children from going in the garden - front and back.

"I feel constricted like I'm in a cage now in the property."

However, he said his biggest worry was for his children and his pregnant wife.

"My main concern is their health," he said.

He called for more research and more funding to provide answers to affected residents.

The factory in Thornton-Cleveleys first started operating in the 1950s, when ICI manufactured coating for non-stick frying pans using PFOA.

AGC Chemicals took over the factory in 1999 and continued using PFOA until 2012, when it switched to a replacement chemical called EEA-NH4, which was also found in the blood of 10 residents tested.

PFOA has been banned in the UK since 2020 because it was classed by the World Health Organization as a Group 1 carcinogen, which means there is clear scientific evidence it can increase the risk of cancer.

The UK does not have any recommendations about acceptable PFAS levels in people, although the US and Germany do.

A spokesperson for AGC Chemicals said the site manufactured chemicals long before the company was established.

It said: "Since the wider multi-agency investigation is still ongoing and no formal determination of land contamination has been made, we cannot speculate on future outcomes or next steps."

Earlier this month, AGC Chemicals said the factory would close later this year after deciding there was no "viable solution to keep the site operating in the context of a volatile and competitive market".

Lancashire's public health director Dr Sakthi Karunanithi has warned people to be "really cautious" about the way they interpret the blood test results on their own, saying they could not predict future health outcomes.

He said the UKHSA had found there was currently not enough evidence to determine whether long-term PFAS exposure from industrial or manufacturing sites caused adverse health effects in nearby communities.