To do so, Congress should increase funding for programs like the Defense Environmental Restoration Program and designate PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund toxic cleanup law. This document will also lay out why the manufacturers of toxic firefighting foam are responsible for the harm you suffered. In a successful case, you may be able to receive compensation for the following: In most cases, your lawsuit would be filed against the company that manufactured the firefighting foam believed to be the source of your PFAS exposure; you would not be suing the U.S. military. The ensuing lawsuit, which led to DuPont settling 3,500 personal injury cases for $670.1m (555m), was made famous by the Mark Ruffalo film Dark Waters. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (DMAFB) is located within the Tucson basin, a northwest trending alluvial valley. In June, theSenate passedthe National Defense Authorization Act of 2020, which contains a number of critical PFAS monitoring and cleanup amendments. In July the House passed its version of the act, with several PFAS amendments, including one that woulddesignate PFAS as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law. ATSDR officials added that the agency will coordinate with other partners to notify concerned citizens and veterans about the findings in this report. The agency also said it will update its exposure assessments should additional information become available, and will support public meetings to discuss the reports findings. Ground-water contamination at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan January 1, 1994 View Plate View Document A sand and gravel aquifer of glacial origin underlies Wurtsmith Air Force Base in northeastern lower Michigan. Additionally, DoD tested 2,668 groundwater wells both on and in the surrounding off-base community and found that 61 percent of them tested above the EPAs recommended levels. Theres a hint in the shorthand for the properties of some PFAS, which is PBT: persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. The information submitted on this page will be forwarded to Cohen, Placitella & Roth who has sponsored this investigation. However, the water system on the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base was contaminated with PFAS, a group of dangerous chemicals, as a result of military firefighters using aqueous film-forming foam, commonly known as AFFF. Mitchell will be joined by Erwin Kawata from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, among others. Through FOIAs, EWG has discovered that many of the highest PFAS detections in the nation have been found on or near military installations. Click on a marker for base information. It costs nothing to speak to one of the attorneys we work with, and youre never obligated to take legal action just because you talked to someone about your rights. DuPonts Teflon changed our lives, but also polluted our bodies. I will tell you up front, we know there's probably holes in the data," he said. Both . Residents and servicemembers are now taking action for the harm they suffered, so read on for more about the link between military bases and water contamination, as well as whats involved in filing a lawsuit. Dozens of drinking water wells in Security, Widefield and Fountain are contaminated with PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). All rights reserved. Luke Air Force Base said in February that studies showed high levels of contaminants had affected drinking water for about 6,000 people in roughly 1,600 homes plus several neighboring businesses. Cardiff University analysed the livers of otters across England and Wales and found PFAS in all 50 otters sampled, with 12 different types of PFAS found in 80% of the animals. Continued investigation to define the nature and extent of contamination around Wurtsmith. TheU.S. Environmental Protection Agencysmaximum contaminant level for TCE in drinking water, above which long-term exposure could be expected to harm health, is 5 parts per billion. The spill, estimated at 24 million gallons, was the largest underground toxic spill in US history AR CN EN ES FR IT TR Description: We found PFAS detections at 14 installations that were above 1 million parts per trillion, or ppt, far above the 70 ppt advisory level recommended by the EPA. The U.S. Air Force says it will be distributing bottled water to thousands of residents and business owners near its base in suburban Phoenix until at least April, marking the latest case. For the groundwater sources, both on-base and off-base, however, cleanup will take years to address, Sullivan said. Aside from chemicals manufacturing plants, any site that has regularly used PFOS-laden aqueous film-forming firefighting foams, such as airfields, military bases and firefighting training grounds, could in theory contaminate soils, air and water in the vicinity. PFAS biomagnify up food chains too, supplying apex predators such as orcas with hefty doses at mealtimes. SECURITY - A multi-million dollar lawsuit has been filed against the federal government because of groundwater contamination from the use of firefighting foam at Peterson Air Force Base. ClassAction.org is a group of online professionals (designers, programmers and writers) with years of experience in the legal industry. McMahon promised that the PFAS investigation would be different, starting with a website that will provide information and data on PFAS contamination at all current and former military bases. PFAS chemicals are used in industry and consumer products such as food packaging, commercial household products, stain- and water-repellent fabrics, non-stick cookware, polishes, waxes and paint. Its an issue not just in New Hampshire, but at military installations across this country, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic chemicals used since the 1940s that can be toxic to humans at very , To continue reading, subscribe Chocolates and heart-shaped pastilles with cutesy phrases like QT Pie are sweet. What isnt sweet are the potentially harmful food chemicals that may be hiding in your Valentines Day candies. They raise the number of Army installations with known PFAS contamination of drinking water or groundwater from 18 to 108, and the total number of military installations with known contamination from 207 to 297. (Breanne Humphreys, U.S. Air Force photo/Released). He was 101. He insisted, however, that no military personnel or family members whose drinking water comes from Defense Department-managed water sources are consuming levels of PFAS higher than the lifetime health advisory limit. These chemicals cause a variety of really, really dangerous health effects. Luke air force base said studies showed high levels of contaminants had affected drinking water for about 6,000 people Associated Press Fri 26 Feb 2021 11.39 EST Last modified on Wed 5 Jan 2022 10 . If your base is not on the map or list above, this does not mean you were not exposed to PFAS chemicals from firefighting foam. The more than 5,000-acre former Wurtsmith base began operations as an airfield for military aircraft in 1923. The plume affected the bases water well. In the UK today, of the thousands of PFAS in use, only PFOS and PFOA are subject to regulation. The couples son, with whom Arvos wife was pregnant while living at Wurtsmith, was born with significant hearing loss. Sullivan estimates the groundwater perfluorinate cleanup will add about $2 billion to the $27 billion previously identified cleanup projects for which the department is responsible. Nationally, the data provided through the FOIA added 90 current and former Army and Army National Guard installations to the list of locations that are contaminated with PFAS chemicals. They have also been linked to low birthweight, birth defects, delayed development and newborn deaths in laboratory animals. For Wurtsmith veterans who have long contended their health problems were likely tied to their toxic exposures on the base, the new findings provide some validation. AFFF contains PFOS and can break down into other types of PFAS, including PFOA. Its estimated that, given the widespread use of PFAS and the ubiquitous presence of some of them in the environment, almost everyone on the planet has PFAS in their blood at some level. When you work with veterans, they and their families have made the ultimate sacrifices for our country. Veterans of the formerWurtsmith Air Force BaseinOscodafrom the 1970s, and their families who lived with them on the base, face increased risks of leukemia and other harmful effects from prolonged exposures to toxic volatile organic compounds that were in the now-shuttered bases water supply at the time, a federal health agency has found. Peterson Air Force Base (PAFB) is in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Site Hydrogeology. In England many rivers fail to meet standards for chemical health due to the presence of PFAS, and this widespread pollution could be affecting the wildlife that live in them. Public interest science has only just begun to wrap its head around PFOS and PFOA, decades after they were first produced, and so there is little chance it will ever catch up with manufacturers, who can tweak an existing molecule, rename it, and have it on the market in a fraction of the time it takes to establish a body of evidence to demonstrate whether or not it needs regulating. These included 36 sites with drinking water contamination on-base, and more than 90 sites that reported either on-base or off-base drinking water or groundwater contamination, in which the water source tested above the Environmental Protection Agencys acceptable levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate or perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as PFOS and PFOAs. The military services no longer use PFAS-based firefighting foam in land-based training and, when it is used in emergencies, the site is treated as an environmental cleanup zone after, McMahon said. Further, it has been established that PFAS can pass through breast milk and cross the placenta from mother to fetus during pregnancy. Eielson AFB is located approximately 25 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. For more information on the Air Force's response to Reese visit: https://www.afcec.af.mil/Home/BRAC/Reese.aspx. All of that falls short of the concrete help veterans of Wurtsmith and other contaminated military bases need in getting their health problems addressed, Arvo said. They sit at the interfaces between water and particles, water and biota, they can transfer to the atmosphere and theyre so abundant they cycle around the wider environment, and thats the problem weve got.. In 2016 the EPA established a new, lower guideline for acceptable levels of PFOS or PFOA levels in water supplies: no more 70 parts per trillion. In New Mexico, the Air Force recognized in 1999 that jet fuel had contaminated groundwater below Kirtland Air Force Base and surrounding neighborhoods. PFAS are man-made chemicals used in products worldwide since the 1950s, including firefighting foam, non . Lake levels are rising across the world and climate change is to blame, Artificial sweetener erythritol linked to heart attacks and strokes, Strange quantum event happens once every 10 billion chances, Northern lights: The best pictures of the aurora taken across the UK, The radical new experiments that hint at plant consciousness, Mediterranean diet may prevent cognitive issues for people with MS. If you lived on a military base and developed cancer or thyroid disease, its possible that your illnessmay have been caused by toxic chemicals in your drinking water. After 1970, the drinking water on the base became contaminated with PFAS, a group of dangerous chemicals that can be found in aqueous film-forming foam, commonly known as AFFF. The story of that education stretches from kupuna to keiki. From there, your attorney will engage with those representing the defendants that is, the companies being sued and the court in an attempt to resolve your case. Next Steps What is the Venus-Jupiter conjunction and how can you view it? Defense Department officials reported last year that nearly 400 Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force bases could be contaminated around the globe. Service members who work at these facilities and the people who live nearby are likely drinking water contaminated with PFAS chemicals at concentrations that raise serious health concerns. Protect your health. "This is going to only improve over time. Ministers told to get a grip on scale of forever chemicals pollution in UK, UKrisks falling behind Europe in controlling forever chemicals, Toxic substances from chemicals firm site found polluting protected river, Forever chemicals mean Englands waters will miss pollution targets for decades, Revealed: scale of forever chemical pollution across UK and Europe, Buncefield: the PFAS legacy of biggest fire in peacetime Europe, Howbirds of prey are exposing a toxic time bomb, EUunveils plan for largest ever ban on dangerous chemicals, Higher levels of PFAS exposure may increase chance of Covid, studies say. This Polar bears have a PFAS problem: Pollution from the forever chemicals known as PFAS contaminates polar bears, tigers, monkeys, pandas, dolphins and fish and has been documented in more than 330 From coast to coast, and in almost every state in the U.S., high levels of the forever chemicals known as PFAS contaminate freshwater fish. The group is charged with focusing on the health effects of contamination, cleanup standards and performance, finding science-supported standards for exposure and cleanup, and coordinating agencies to address the problems. A specialized substance designed to extinguish fires caused by petroleum and other flammable liquids, AFFF is known to contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of toxic chemicals. In 2003-04, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and the U.S. Air Force, conducted an investigation to determine the age of ground water in the shallow, contaminated part of the aquifer and in the deep production zone beneath the Base. Some PFAS have been linked at very low doses to cancer, reproductive and immune system harm, thyroid and kidney disease, and other health problems. 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