Japan Speaking Tour #11 – Iwakuni
By Pat Elder
October 6, 2024
U.S. Marine Corps firefighters practice fire training at Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni on Oct 15, 2018. The foams they used to extinguish fires contained carcinogenic PFAS. The Marines/Navy have known of health impacts associated with exposure to these chemicals for 50 years.
August 20, 2024 -
Iwakuni, Japan is the home of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and its fleet of 32 F-35’s that may soon be fitted with the B-61 nuclear weapons as Japan caves into American demands to rapidly militarize and to embrace the so-called “nuclear deterrent.” It is historical irony that Iwakuni is just 26 miles south of the atomic bomb hypocenter in Hiroshima.
Iwakuni is about 600 miles from mainland China. All the F-35 variants have a top speed of Mach 1.6, roughly equal to 1,200 mph. This means they can reach China in a half hour. They can attain their top speed with a full load of weapons. See this video of the screaming F-35’s in Iwakuni where we took surface water samples to test for PFAS in September of 2023 and June of 2024 from a saltwater lagoon adjacent to the runway on base.
The red marker indicates the site of our testing and the site where the video above was filmed.
When we visited last year, we found 22.7 parts per trillion, (ppt) of PFOS, 10.9 ppt of PFOA, and 51.2 ppt of all PFAS compounds. I met a newspaper reporter with the Chugoku Shimbun after our presentation at the Iwakuni Community Center last year and he was interested in writing an article on our presentation and the PFAS results we reported. We traded several emails over the next week or so. I stressed that the 22.7 ppt of PFOS was particularly dangerous due to the propensity of this chemical to bio accumulate in fish up to 2,000 times the levels in the water. This means the fish are likely to have many tens of thousands of PFOS – and some of the other compounds we reported. Meanwhile, Japan has a non-binding advisory of 50 ppt for the combination of PFOS and PFOA in both drinking water and surface water. Since the PFOS and PFOA only totaled 33.6 ppt together, the paper’s editor said he was not interested in further pursuing the story. Bummer.
This year was different. Hideki Nita, a well-known Japanese peace activist with Peace Link, returned to the same spot to test the waters and he found levels for the two compounds above the 50 ppt threshold.
Japanese nationals Ken’Ichi Narikawa and Hideki Nitta last year outside U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. Ken’Ichi, a former Japanese naval officer, is holding the brilliant cage and rope system he designed to hold the sampling cup for tough to reach sampling spots.
The sampling results follow. It’s sad the results show a greater threat to human health, but it is fortunate we may be able to share our story with the wonderful people from this region in Japan. Another reporter attended our well-attended event on the evening of August 20th and sent these 5 questions to me several days before the event. My answers follow her questions.
The sampling results from May 22, 2024 are shown here.
It’s sad the results show a greater threat to human health, but it is fortunate we may be able to share our story with the good people from this region in Japan.
Another reporter from the paper attended our event on the evening of August 20th and sent these 5 questions to me several days before our presentation. My answers follow her questions.
Dear Nami Kawamura,
Thank you for your interest! We need your help to tell this story. I will do my best to thoroughly answer your important questions. Feel free to contact me with follow-up questions. You may also speak with Rachel Clark who will make sure all your questions are answered.
First, I am sharing two graphics. One shows the analytical results and the next shows the location of the sample on a Google map. (shown above). Nami’s questions are in bold; my answers are in regular type.
We found 13 PFAS compounds draining into Hiroshima Bay totaling 148.9 nanograms per liter (ng/L). This is also known as parts per trillion, or ppt. We like using ppt because it is easier for most people to understand. One part per trillion is the same as one tiny drop of water in 5 Olympic-size swimming pools. This is one reason why these chemicals are so dangerous. Less than one part per trillion of PFOS or PFOA in food or water consumed daily is attributable to higher rates of some kinds of cancer. The state of California says PFOS and PFOA cause cancer.
PFOS and PFOA and the other chemicals in your water are linked to many other diseases affecting the development of babies in their mother’s womb and other deadly illnesses. It is very bad.
Your questions appear in bold.
(1) What is the purpose and significance of this second survey following last year's?
Primarily, the purpose is to have the results so we can warn people that the air, soil, groundwater, sediment, and all aquatic life, including the fish we eat, is contaminated. PFOS, in particular, is a big problem because it bioaccumulates in fish at several hundred to 2,000 times the levels in the water.
If we have bioaccumulation rates as high as 2,000 times the 63.4 ppt in the water, we may expect some species of fish to contain approximately 126,800 ppt. All of the other PFAS compounds shown above also bioaccumulate in fish. PFOA is known to gather in crustaceans like clams, crabs, and oysters.
The results below from the 2003 study by Taniyasu, et.al. report on the concentrations of PFOS in fish liver and blood in various locations around the country. We need more attention paid to this important human health issue!
2) In this May/June survey, the total of PFOS and PFOA, which are typical PFAS substances, exceeded 50 nanograms per liter in 12 out of 39 locations. How do you evaluate this result, Mr. Elder?
I think Japan is in trouble. We found a total of 27 different PFAS compounds in Japan, although we rarely see any discussion in the mainstream media. These compounds may impact health at levels as low as 1 part per trillion in food and water.
The European Food Safety Authority estimates that up to 86% of the PFAS in our bodies comes from food, especially fish. The rest is from water, air, dust, and dermal exposure. Once the chemicals are in the water, they coat the banks of rivers and the sea. When the level of the water goes down, the carcinogens in the sediment dry and become airborne. They settle in our lungs and dust in our homes.
The American Centers for Disease Control tested the dust in homes very close to the Shepherd Field Air National Guard base in Martinsburg, West Virginia and found levels of PFOS and PFHxS above 10 million ppt. Dust is a primary pathway of PFAS for little children!
27 PFAS compounds we found in Japan
These compounds are associated with a variety of diseases. They may affect thyroid, liver, bladder, kidney and testicular function. They may bring on hypertension, increased cholesterol, and pre-eclampsia.
(3) Also, in the vicinity of the Iwakuni base, PFOS 63.4 PFOA 25.9 What do you think of this result?
This result is a disaster for the food chain, beginning with the invertebrates. We have seen very small fish that feed on invertebrates on the bottom of rivers and the sea with levels over a million parts per trillion. Larger fish may consume these smaller fish and humans may eat the larger fish.
Typically, levels of PFAS in groundwater are many times higher than the levels in surface water. Some PFAS compounds may travel 30 km in groundwater or surface water. Fortunately, drinking water service providers are able to filter out most of the PFAS from the water.
(4) In last year's survey, the level of PFOS did not exceed 50, but why did it exceed this year's level? What are the possible reasons?
This question pertains to what we call the “fate and transport” of PFAS in water. It is a complicated study that scientists don’t fully understand. Different compounds congregate in different depths of the water. The tide and the current and the wind may also affect the levels. Also, rain amounts over the last few days can also affect levels. That’s because the runoff from the rain may carry PFAS from the ground into the water. We must institute a robust testing regime around the base to determine regular levels of PFAS in various environmental media. The US Marines cannot be trusted to do the testing in this manner.
(iv) How do you think the administration should respond to the situation where the target value is exceeded? What do you think the citizens should think about this result?
Local administrations around the world have failed to change American behavior while too much time and effort is spent trying gain access to bases. The hometown folks must institute a testing regime to examine levels in air, dust, sediment, soil, groundwater, surface water and fish in areas surrounding the base. They should also test human blood serum. Fish testing is very important. Local government must warn pregnant women not to consume fish until they are certain it is free of PFAS. Other foods, like chicken, beef, vegetables and grains should also be examined.
Local government must test waste water treatment plants that service the base, as well as residential and industrial sources. The plants create liquid effluent that is typically not filtered for PFAS and is discharged into the rivers. These treatment plants also produce sludge, which is material that largely consists of fecal matter. This material may be spread on agricultural fields. It is known to contain high levels of PFAS and contaminates food grown on the fields. The PFAS drains into the soil, groundwater, and surface water. It never goes away.
Finally, prefectural governments ought to explore ways to sue the manufacturers of PFAS used on the base. It is not possible to sue the American military. They consider themselves to be above American, Japanese, and international law.
(5) I hear that you will visit Iwakuni City on August 20 to report on the results of the survey. What would you like to tell them?
In addition to the above, it is important for people to explore the work done by many in Japan, including Sakurai Kunitoshi of the University of Okinawa; Yukio Negiyama of Hino in western Tokyo; Koji Hadar from Kyoto University; and Japan’s foremost PFAS scholar, Akio Koizumi of Kyoto University. Thank you.
Postscript
Residents' group files complaint over "hazardous substances detected" near U.S. military base in Iwakuni
September 24, 2024 NHK News
NHK Television - the Japan Broadcasting Corporation is wholly owned by the government of Japan.
The TV headline says: Near the mouth of the river - Near the U.S. military base harmful substances detected. Resident’s group requests testing, etc.
A local resident group has requested the city to carry out inspections around the base, as it has been reported that harmful organic fluorine compounds, PFAS, have been detected near the mouth of a river near the US military base in Iwakuni City, exceeding the provisional national guideline value. Two organic fluorine compounds, PFOS and PFOA, have been identified as harmful and are prohibited from being manufactured or imported into Japan, but there have been a series of cases where they have been detected in concentrations that exceed the provisional national guideline value near US military facilities in Okinawa and Hiroshima prefectures.
A resident group in Iwakuni City handed a letter of request to city officials regarding this issue, pointing out that an American private organization conducted an investigation near the mouth of the Imazu River near the Iwakuni base in May of this year and found that the concentration was approximately 1.8 times the national guideline value. Based on
this, the group requested the city to carry out inspections for PFAS around the base.
In response, a city official said that although national and prefectural surveys have not shown that the guideline values have been exceeded, it has been some time since the surveys, so they would like to ask the national and prefectural governments to consider conducting monitoring surveys in the future.
Secretary-General of the residents' group, Yoshinori Kume, said, "I think the city needs to properly collect information independently, including through testing."
The Downs Law Group helps to make this work possible. Their support allows us to research and write about military contamination around the world. They’ve helped us buy hundreds of PFAS kits and they’ve helped pay for flights and hotels. The firm is working to provide legal representation to individuals in the U.S. and abroad with a high likelihood of exposure to a host of contaminants.
The Downs Law Group employs attorneys accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist those who have served in obtaining VA Compensation and Pension Benefits they are rightly owed.