Critique of a Tokyo Shimbun article on PFAS
By Pat Elder
May 31, 2024
Last year, the Tokyo Shimbun featured an influential article on PFAS that failed to examine the complexities of the contamination or the politics swirling around it. The article never strayed from the official line. It was an influential piece of “journalism” that demanded editing and correction.
See the article, Suspected carcinogen "PFAS" concentration in well water near Yokota Air Base is 27 times higher than provisional guideline values. The newspaper analyzes survey data. - May 12, 2023 https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/249341
Please see my responses to this article in the Tokyo Shimbun. Although the piece is a year old, the misrepresentations and omissions in this piece permeate mainstream Japanese reporting. Read the lines from Tokyo Shimbun, followed by my comments in bold.
Here is the link to my critique in Japanese: https://www.militarypoisons.org/japaneselanguage
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Tokyo Shimbun The results of the 2018 survey were released by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in response to a disclosure request.
The results are 6 years old. Why didn’t the Tokyo Metropolitan Government publicize the results back then?
Tokyo Shimbun High concentrations of PFAS were detected in well water near the US Yokota Air Base (in Fussa, Tokyo, etc.) in fiscal 2018, and it was found to be 27 times the provisional national guideline value (50 nanograms per liter), the highest level in Tokyo to date.
How many people drink from the groundwater? Do you also have access to tap water data in the same area? Are people also drinking these concentrations of PFAS today in their tap water?
Tokyo Shimbun This newspaper analyzed data from approximately 3,000 surveys of well water in Tokyo conducted by the metropolitan government and the national government. With the base emerging as a possible source of contamination, experts point out that "the possibility has increased even further."
“The possibility?” There’s plenty of data demonstrating the contamination flowing from US military bases in Japan. Why are you so cautious?
Tokyo Shimbun PFAS is a general term for organic fluorine compounds that have been used as ingredients in firefighting foam and for surface treatment of frying pans. PFOS and PFOA, which are types of PFAS, are highly persistent in the human body and the environment, and are being internationally regulated due to the risk of health damage such as carcinogenicity and elevated cholesterol levels.
The Japanese media rarely addresses PFAS compounds other than PFOS and PFOA. In America we now regulate these two compounds at 4 parts per trillion each. We also have set maximum contaminant levels for PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA (GenX Chemicals) at 10 parts per trillion.
We found 28 separate PFAS varieties in surface water throughout Japan. They are all believed to be dangerous.
Four long years ago, the Japanese government set a “provisional target” for the combined value of PFOS and PFOA at 50 nanograms or less per liter of tap water and groundwater. Many scientists thought the levels were too high then.
It is extraordinarily difficult and outrageously expensive – if it is actually possible - to repair the damage done to the groundwater by the military and industries in Japan. What’s the plan in heavily contaminated areas like Tachikawa?
What’s the plan to clean it up?
There isn’t one!
What is lacking in Japan is a robust discussion of the primary pathways to human ingestion, and that starts with the food, especially the fish. In many areas, the tap water has tiny levels of PFAS. Meanwhile, the food, the air, and the dust in people’s homes are likely to be a much greater threat!
Tokyo Shimbun We requested disclosure of information and analyzed the results of well water surveys between 2005 and 2022 that have been published by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Waterworks, Bureau of Environment, Bureau of Welfare and Health, and Ministry of the Environment, as well as survey results that were not made public because the wells are privately owned.
The government must begin regulating private wells and the food that is grown using contaminated soil and water. Although many with wells may only be using the water for vegetable gardens, the science shows that
strawberries, peaches, apricots, and grapes are the most highly contaminated fruits - while lettuce, spinach, and cucumbers are vegetables that soak up the PFAS. The levels of concentrations of PFAS in fruits and vegetables may be several orders of magnitude higher than the levels allowed in the dinking water.
Tokyo Shimbun About 1,000 cases exceeded the guideline value. In fiscal 2018, the Yokota Air Base Monitoring Well in Tachikawa City, east of Yokota Air Base, detected PFAS at 1,340 nanograms per liter, the highest level in Tokyo to date. There were several other locations in the city with levels around 1,000 nanograms.
Yokota Airbase is a blemish on the Tokyo landscape.
In cities east of the base, such as Musashimurayama, Kokubunji, and Kunitachi, levels exceeded 500 nanograms, tending to be relatively high, while in cities west of the base, such as Fussa, Hamura, and Mizuho, levels were low.
Groundwater often empties into surface waters, contaminating food we eat.
When the Tokyo Shimbun says the levels are “low” we must keep in mind the prophetic words of the former American Director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, Dr. Linda Birnbaum, who warned 5 years ago that levels of PFOA above .1 part per trillion may be associated with the development of pancreatic cancer. How low is low, Japan?
Japan already has nearly 10% of the entire world’s pancreatic cancer cases. Clams, shrimp, and lobster typically have much higher levels of PFOA than the drinking water.
It’s the consumption of fish that is most frightful!
The concentrations of PFOS in blood among the Japanese are mainly associated with fish consumption.
The results from a 2003 study by Taniyasu, et.al. (shown here) report on the concentrations of PFOS in fish liver and blood in various locations around the country. Results are in parts per trillion to provide a contrast to national efforts to keep the drinking water under 50 ppt. Why aren’t there more studies like this?
Only PFOS is shown above, while PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS, and PFOSA are widely distributed in Japanese aquatic ecosystems. Mussels, crab, clam, and oyster are contaminated. Filefish, bream, flounder, shark, finless porpoise, gull, and mallard are contaminated. The government should be testing them and setting limits protective of public health.
Tokyo Shimbun According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Water Environment Division, groundwater in Tokyo generally flows from west to east. Koji Harada, an associate professor of environmental hygiene at Kyoto University who is knowledgeable about PFAS, pointed out that "there is no explanation for the cause other than that Yokota Air Base is the source of contamination." Even in areas where contamination was detected long ago, he said, "PFAS remain in the soil for a long time, so the concentration has not decreased significantly from past levels."
Professor Harada says PFAS remains in the soil for a long time. Such a long time, that if the imperial court used PFAS while Lady Murasaki wrote the Genji Monogatari, folks in Kyoto might still be dealing with it today.
Japan is fortunate to have Professor Harada and Professor Akio Koizumi who understand PFAS as well as anyone anywhere.
Tokyo Shimbun In response to an interview by this newspaper, a Yokota Air Base public relations officer said in an email, "We cannot comment on investigations by outside agencies."
Why would you ask them? Which do you prefer, their lies or their silence?
Isn’t it clear to you what is happening across Japan? You must look to your own municipal and prefectural governments to take steps to protect public health. Stop complaining about the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the tyranny of American imperial rule! Go after the makers of PFAS in the appropriate courts, but, my God, take care of your people first!
Tokyo Shimbun A representative from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Chemical Substances Control Division responded, "We are currently gathering data to grasp the situation throughout Tokyo, but there is not enough data to identify Yokota Air Base as the source of contamination."
Bob Dylan, the great American folk singer, said the answer is blowin’ in the wind.
How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
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Tokyo Shimbun The monitoring well was installed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government following a fuel leak incident at the base in 1993. It is located on private property, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has not disclosed its exact address in a public information disclosure statement. Since the well is not used for drinking water, no investigation has been conducted since 2018.
The leaks are bad, but the daily use and discharge of PFAS are more problematic. Drinking the contaminated groundwater is not the only way these carcinogens make us sick.
Tokyo Shimbun A metropolitan government survey found that levels of about 5,800 nanograms per liter were detected in Machida city in 2010. However, since there were no other high concentration points in the surrounding area and a person in charge suggested that this was a possible misjudgment, saying that "this is not a realistic figure," this newspaper excluded the level from its analysis as it was seen as a reference value.
How are we to be expected to believe any of this?
Tokyo Shimbun PFOA levels spike in Chofu: Source of contamination other than base?
A survey of well water on PFAS conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of the Environment from 2005 to 2022 found that high concentrations of PFOA, a type of PFAS, were detected in wells in Chofu City, according to a summary by this newspaper. Experts point out that because the components are significantly different from those found in Tachikawa City, where high concentrations of PFAS were detected, there may be a source of PFOA contamination in the area around Chofu City, separate from the US Yokota Air Base (Fussa City, etc.). (Kyota Matsushima)
PFAS is the term used to designate 15,000 different compounds of the chemicals. PFOS is just one type of PFAS.
The tape shown here is made of PTFE, a kind of PFAS. 3M’s 74 Spray bonds fabric to a wide range of substances. Viton, a product of the Chemours Company, is made with PFAS and is added to synthetic rubber. 3M’s Novec Cleaner is loaded with PFAS. It is all irreplaceable, according to the U.S. military.
Industrial actors have also poisoned the nation with many varieties of PFAS! Like the military, they use a host of products laden with the chemicals. The firefighting foams only account for a small amount of the contamination of the groundwater.
The US Congress directed the military to prepare a report outlining the uses of PFAS that they feel are critical to the national security of the United States. In response, the DOD published a report on Critical Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl substance uses in August, 2023. It lists a dizzying array of products. When these items are discarded, they may cause trouble for another thousand years. The crime is inherent in the manufacture of these items in the first place.
Tokyo Shimbun The Yokota Air Base Monitoring Well (Tachikawa City), where the highest level of PFAS in Tokyo was detected in fiscal 2018, had a high level of PFOS at 1,200 nanograms per liter, while PFOA was just 140 nanograms per liter.
Never say “just.” It’s the second time in this article the levels of PFOA have been made to seem insignificant.
Tokyo Shimbun The well in Chofu City that detected the highest levels of PFAS was 403 nanograms of PFOA and 153 nanograms of PFOS in a fiscal 2019 survey.
Of the roughly 3,000 wells surveyed by the metropolitan government and other organizations, seven out of nine with PFOA levels above 250 nanograms were found to be in Chofu City, while the other two were in Tachikawa City and Shibuya Ward. A tendency for PFOA levels to be high was also seen in Komae City, which is thought to be downstream of the groundwater flowing through Chofu City.
The well in Chofu where high concentrations were detected had a depth of just five meters, according to the survey results. Associate Professor Koji Harada (environmental hygiene) of Kyoto University analyzed, "Groundwater flowing at shallow depths is easily affected by contamination occurring nearby, so there may be a contamination source nearby."
One large-scale facility that uses PFAS is Chofu Airport, which is operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and is located in Chofu City. According to the airport, fire extinguishing foam containing PFOS and PFOA was installed between 2009 and 2013, and fire extinguishing foam containing PFOA has been installed since 2013. However, there has been no record of any leakage accidents in the past, and water is used in firefighting training, so a person in charge says that "there is little connection."
It's difficult to trust the statements of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government considering that they are still attempting to “grasp the situation throughout Tokyo,” and that they sat on important PFAS data for so long. Perhaps the airport is not the source of PFOA.
By 2020, the shift to shorter chain PFAS (six carbon atoms) in firefighting foams had largely been completed in Japan – as a result of voluntary action by the PFAS manufacturers and industries using AFFF in those regions. PFOS and PFOA are 8-carbon chain compounds.
Today, much of the PFAS that are likely to be found in the surficial aquifer in Chofu may be other varieties of PFAS – like these compounds we have reported in different areas of the country: PFBA, PFPeA, PFHxA, PFHpA, PFNA, PFDA, PFBS, PFHxS, 3:3 FTCA, 5:3 FTCA, 6:2 FTS, 7:3 FTCA, 8:2 FTS FBSA, FHxSA, FOSAA, N-AP-FHxSA, N-EtFOSAA, N-MeFOSAA, PFECHS, PFHpS, PFOSA, PFPeS, PFPrS, and PFUnA.
Tokyo Shimbun A nearby semiconductor manufacturing plant that uses PFAS in its manufacturing process also responded to questions by saying that they properly discharge the substances into the sewer system and that they are unlikely to be a source of contamination.
Wastewater discharge from semiconductor manufacturing facilities presents the greatest risk for PFAS contamination in the environment. Japan is in trouble and your government isn’t being straight with you. Most PFAS are not regulated pollutants, so the wastewater from processes that use aqueous wet chemical formulations that contain PFAS would likely be discharged to the publicly owned treatment works without substantive removal of the PFAS.
The US Military considers a wide variety of PFAS compounds (see the list above) to be essential to production. Meanwhile, semiconductor production is considered essential to the Japanese economy, national security, and the Japanese way of life these days.
Japan has a big problem with PFAS and the first step in solving it is recognizing it.
Posing with the Navy’s carcinogenic foam on my beach in Maryland. I will be travelling to Ireland, UK, and Germany in July and to Japan in August to meet up with environmental activists to test surface waters draining from industrial and military sites for PFAS contamination. I’m trying to arrange it so that I don’t have to take a bath. We still need to raise $8,000. Please help. Please make a note that your contribution is for testing waters in Europe and Japan. - Thanks, Pat
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