The U.S. military has never released to the public any information about contamination within the installations. Military firefighters were required to use AFFF, even though they faced serious risks. Ban all new varieties of PFAS and new uses for this class of chemicals. PFAS contaminate the blood of every American and have been linked to serious health problems, including cancer and harm to the reproductive and immune systems. Here's how. Here, the military only needs to remediate contamination within its own bases if the contamination is deemed urgent. “These results are alarming, because they show that PFAS contamination of the water provided to our soldiers is nationwide and exposes them to a number of types of PFAS,” EWG senior scientist Dave Andrews said in a release. I hear from U.S. service members that it helps them and their families so much. The growing awareness of the issue in Japan is largely due to one reporter: Jon Mitchell, a British investigative journalist based in Tokyo, who has spent years chronicling environmental contamination in the Asia-Pacific region. Yes. Through FOIAs, EWG has discovered that many of the highest PFAS detections in the nation have been found on or near military installations. The main source of drinking water in Okinawa, which serves 450,000 people, is from wells and rivers that run alongside the base. In the U.S., the fight over PFAS contamination from military installations, which The Intercept was first to report in 2015, now usually centers on the degree to which the Department of Defense is obligated to clean it up. If this contamination had been detected within the U.S., there are a whole range of programs in place to remediate it. The heat from the barbecue triggered the AFFF system. A closer examination of military records and press reports reveals there are at least eleven additional bases that have a record of PFAS contamination. Okinawans first realized their island was contaminated with PFAS in 2016 when tests by local authorities detected high levels of the substances in rivers running through and near Kadena Air Base, the largest U.S. Air Force installation in the Pacific. The Marine Corps didn’t notify the contractor that the material it was burning contained PFAS. The Department of Defense will not fund cleanup in a foreign country unless it’s very serious and has an immediate impact on human health. 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge MA 02138, USA, Infographic: Wildfires and Climate Change, Building Equitable, Clean, and Climate-Safe Infrastructure, Ride-Hailing is a Problem for the Climate, Chemical Safety: An Urgent Need for Science-Based Protections, EPA Decision Increases Air Pollution Risk, Various forms of cancer, including testicular and kidney cancer, Pregnancy-induced hypertension/pre-eclampsia. How have people living there been affected? A lot of the contamination you report is from the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, which is the biggest American Air Force installation in Asia. “There are currently no Army personnel or families drinking water with levels of PFOS/PFOA above the LHA,” Army Department senior counsel Paul DeAgostino wrote. None of this has surprised me. Photo: USAF/US Freedom of Information Act. We're arming the new administration with facts, evidence, and science. Photographs obtained from the United States Air Force via the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. The contaminated drinking water is supplied to seven municipalities – home to 450,000 Okinawans, thousands of U.S. service members and their families, and, at least in pre-pandemic times, millions of international tourists. An opportunity for reform is being squandered. EWG has found 28 bases with PFAS in drinking water at levels above those set by some state regulators. In the face of heavy chemical industry lobbying, the military has chosen to replace older foams with new ones that use shorter-chain PFAS molecules, rather than using PFAS-free foams—despite the fact that many airports and corporations, as well as the Norwegian and Danish air forces, have made the switch to PFAS-free foams. While communities across the U.S. have been struggling with massive pollution from the military’s use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS, Japan has awoken to its own environmental crisis from the industrial chemicals in the foam. But these incidents pale compared to what Okinawans are facing today: the U.S. military has polluted the drinking water for 450,000 people – a third of the prefecture’s population – in the worst case of environmental contamination in the island’s history. pfas, chemicals, exposure, contaminated, military, chemical, health, forever, water, lawsuit. The persistence of PFAS as they move through these environments heightens the chance of human exposure. DOD has known of the potentially deadly health problems PFAS can cause since the 1970s, but it has continued to use them. One notable case from 2015 involved a drunk marine trespassing into one of Kadena’s hangars and activating the sprinkler system; military reports described the act as “vandalism.” In-house documents also confirm PFAS hotspots within the base. Now it’s 651 military sites. Add the entire class of PFAS to the EPA’s toxic pollutant list and hazardous substance list. PFAS contaminate the blood of every American and have been linked to serious health problems, including cancer and harm to the reproductive and immune systems. Consider what the world of media would look like without The Intercept. Remediate water supplies on or near military installations contaminated by the US military’s use of and/or disposal of PFAS. Because PFAS never break down and they build up in our blood and organs, they are often known as “forever chemicals.”. In addition to PFAS, military members, their families and nearby residents have faced risks from toxins ranging from perchlorate and benzene to lead paint.

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