US Military 'Downplayed' No. of Soldiers Exposed to 'Forever Chemicals' Toxic PFAS - Health Impacts
Last edited Wed Dec 28, 2022, 01:10 PM - Edit history (3)
The Guardian, Dec. 23, '22. 'US Military 'Downplayed' the Number of Soldiers Exposed to 'Forever Chemicals.' - Ed.
- Analysis of Pentagon report reveals that soldiers exposed to PFAS pollution at much higher rate than military claims.
[Photo caption: 82nd airborne paratroopers march to board a civilian aircraft bound for the US Central Command area of operations from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 2020.]
The number of US service members who have been exposed to toxic “forever chemicals” is much higher than the military has claimed, a new independent analysis of Department of Defense data has found. A Pentagon report that aims to assess the scope of PFAS chemical exposure on its bases, as well as health threats posed to service members, estimated about 175,000 troops across 24 facilities had drunk contaminated water.
But an analysis of the report by the *Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit that tracks PFAS pollution, found the numbers are probably much higher & could top more than 640,000 people across 116 bases, & potentially even millions of people when past service members are factored in. Moreover, the Pentagon report seemed to omit health issues linked to PFAS exposure, such as kidney disease, testicular cancer & fetal effects. The overall report is “frustrating”, said Scott Faber, senior vice- pres. of government affairs with EWG. “The Dept. of Defense is trying to downplay these risks rather than aggressively seeking to notify service members & clean up its legacy pollution. It has long history of looking the other way when it comes to PFAS pollution.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PFAS are a class of about 12,000 chemicals often used to make products resist water, stain and heat. They are called 'forever chemicals' because they do not naturally break down and persist in the environment.
PFAS are linked to cancer, liver disease, high cholesterol, thyroid disorders, birth defects and autoimmune dysfunction. They are thought to be contaminating drinking water for more than 200M people nationally, and contamination has been found in and around hundreds of Dept. of Defense bases at high levels because the chemicals are the main ingredient in firefighting foam the military uses. Congress mandated the Pentagon report in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, but the military has not published it on the dept.’s PFAS website, so it is unavailable to the public or service members except upon request. "That’s the part that ought to bother every American,” Faber said. “It’s not just that they purposefully underestimated how many service members were exposed … it’s that they didn’t tell anyone.”
The DoD’s analysis, dated April 2022, seemed designed to reduce the exposure estimates in several key ways, EWG noted. It only included bases where levels for 2 types of PFAS – PFOS & PFOA – exceeded the EPA's previous health advisory limit.. The numbers did not include 4 large bases – Ft. Bragg, Yakima Training Center, Ft. Leavenworth & Picatinny Arsenal – where levels ranged from 98 ppt to 647 ppt.. The report only considered service members who were on bases at the time of the analysis even though the military began using firefighting foam with PFAS over 50 years ago. The military also made no mention of increased testicular and kidney cancer risks...
- Read More, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/23/us-soldiers-pfas-forever-chemicals-higher-rate-pentagon-military
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- *EWG/Environmental Working Group, Analysis, 2022. "More than 600,000 service members given ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water." NEWS RELEASE & List of *DOD- Identified Installations with PFOS in drinking water, by state:
EWG has identified more than 400 DOD sites with known PFAS contamination in ground or drinking water.
The use of firefighting foam made with PFAS is the primary source of this contamination. PFAS can migrate to wells the DOD uses for drinking water, depending on site-specific conditions.
PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because once released into the environment they do not break down and can build up in our blood and organs. Exposure to PFAS increases the risk of cancer, harms the development of the fetus and reduces the effectiveness of vaccines. The blood of nearly all Americans is contaminated with PFAS according to the Centers for Disease Control...More, https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2022/12/more-600000-service-members-given-forever-chemicals-drinking
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