Comment: This is blockbuster stuff. Two New Studies just came out: Firefighter Foam Study and U.S. Water Supply Study. Military Firefighter battle for recognizing the Cancer Danger of fire fighting foam takes a step forward with this study finally admitting a direct link between the foam and cancer. This study also adds to the mix of dangers posed to missileers and all military personnel with yet another thing to check us for as to exposures. Read on to the end and find a quote that 45% of all U.S. tap water is estimated to have "forever chemicals" in it based on the second study.
Air and Spaces Forces Magazine Daily Report 16 Aug 2023 - See Radar Sweep Article:
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/daily-report/
Quoting:
The link between PFAS and testicular cancer among service members was never directly proven—until now. A new federal study for the first time shows a direct association between PFOS, a PFAS chemical, found in the blood of thousands of military personnel and testicular cancer. Using banked blood drawn from Air Force servicemen, researchers at the National Cancer Institute and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences found strong evidence that Airmen who were firefighters had elevated levels of PFAS in their bloodstreams and weaker evidence for those who lived on installations with high levels of PFAS in the drinking water.
Quoting from KFF Health News: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/pioneering-study-links-testicular-cancer-among-military-personnel-to-forever-chemicals/
And multiple studies show that firefighters, both military and civilian, have been diagnosed with testicular cancer at higher rates than people in most other occupations, often pointing to the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the foam.
But the link between PFAS and testicular cancer among service members was never directly proven — until now.
A new federal study for the first time shows a direct association between PFOS, a PFAS chemical, found in the blood of thousands of military personnel and testicular cancer.
A Nested Case–Control Study of Serum Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Testicular Germ Cell Tumors among U.S. Air Force Servicemen
Quoting from The Intercept https://theintercept.com/2018/02/10/firefighting-foam-afff-pfos-pfoa-epa/
"Contamination from the military’s use of firefighting foam, or AFFF, isn’t limited to Whidbey Island. The foam has been used on hundreds of bases around the country since at least the early 1970s to put out emergency blazes and, far more often, to douse fires purposefully set to prepare firefighters for those emergencies. Chemicals in the foam, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have seeped into water in and around those bases. (PFOA and PFOS are just the two best-known examples of the much larger class of PFAS molecules.)
Quoting From KFF Health News Article: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/pioneering-study-links-testicular-cancer-among-military-personnel-to-forever-chemicals/
"Old stocks of AFFF that contained PFOS were replaced in the past few decades by foam that contains newer-generation PFAS, which now also are known to be toxic. By congressional order, the Department of Defense must stop using all PFAS-containing foams by October 2024, though it can keep buying them until this October. That’s decades after the military first documented the chemicals’ potential health concerns."
Again Quoting From KFF Health News Article:
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/pioneering-study-links-testicular-cancer-among-military-personnel-to-forever-chemicals/
There are thousands of PFAS chemicals, invented in the 1940s to ward off stains and prevent sticking in industrial and household goods. Along with foam used for decades by firefighters and the military, the chemicals are in makeup, nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing, rugs, food wrappers, and a myriad of other consumer goods.
Known as “forever chemicals,” they do not break down in the environment and do accumulate in the human body. Researchers estimate that nearly all Americans have PFAS in their blood, exposed primarily by groundwater, drinking water, soil, and foods. A recent U.S. Geological Survey study estimated that at least 45% of U.S. tap water has at least one type of forever chemical from both private wells and public water supplies.
5 July 2023 U.S. Geological Study https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/tap-water-study-detects-pfas-forever-chemicals-across-us
Quoting:
At least 45% of the nation’s tap water is estimated to have one or more types of the chemicals known as per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey. There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS, not all of which can be detected with current tests; the USGS study tested for the presence of 32 types.
Quoting:
This USGS research marks the first time anyone has tested for and compared PFAS in tap water from both private and government-regulated public water supplies on a broad scale throughout the country. Those data were used to model and estimate PFAS contamination nationwide. This USGS study can help members of the public to understand their risk of exposure and inform policy and management decisions regarding testing and treatment options for drinking water.
Map of Samples: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412023003069?via%3Dihub
Read the study
