PFAS contaminates South Korea
Drinking water, rivers, fish, crabs, breastmilk, babies, teenagers are poisoned.
U.S. military secretive but shares responsibility
By Pat Elder
July 10, 2023
The median level of PFOA in the breastmilk of 207 South Korean mothers was 100 parts per trillion while the U.S. EPA’s interim health advisory is .004 part per trillion for drinking water. The median level of breastmilk is 25,000 times over the EPA threshold.
United States Forces Korea would like the South Korean public to believe that the threat to public health posed by its use of per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances, (PFAS) since the 1970’s is not much of a problem anymore. The military command is making a compelling case that drinking water on bases is no longer a threat. They say the toxic firefighting foams, which they admit caused the contamination, will be completely phased out next year.
The drinking water is still a threat, according to test results made public, although there has been a tremendous reduction in PFAS concentrations. Also, the Pentagon has stopped using the foam in routine training exercises, but it is still present in airplane hangar suppression systems, Navy ships, and submarines.
Sadly, the military also uses PFAS in engine cleaning, wire coating, chrome plating, and other applications. The deadly toxins are often allowed to drain into the soil or the closest river, or they are sent to wastewater treatment plants where they flow into rivers without being treated. Consequently, marine life is poisoned, and so are people.
The sludge produced by the military’s wastewater treatment plants contains high levels of PFAS. It is applied to agricultural fields, a process that contaminates crops, soil, groundwater, surface water, and the fish - again. The sea becomes a chemical toilet.
PFAS takes forever to break down. We can’t burn it and we can’t bury it. We must stop making it and using it.
Based on the known levels of PFAS contamination at US military bases worldwide, we may expect high concentrations of the carcinogens in the food, water, soil, subsoil, surface water, sediment, groundwater, surface water, air, and dust within miles of each U.S. military installation in Korea.
We’ll examine the drinking water data provided by the U.S. military in South Korea, followed by a discussion of political impediments to potential remediation. We’ll look at PFAS contamination in other environmental media, and finally we’ll analyze the devastating impact PFAS has on the health of the South Korean population.
It’s difficult to determine the share of PFAS contamination in the environment caused by the U.S. military on the one hand and South Korean industry on the other. It is fair to say, however, that regions surrounding U.S. military installations are likely to be most impacted by the U.S. military’s past and present use of these chemicals.
PFAS in Drinking Water on U.S. Bases
The DOD only provides results on 2 compounds, PFOA and PFOS, and they don’t tell us the concentrations of either. Commercial labs often provide results for 55 compounds. The U.S. EPA’s interim Lifetime Health Advisory is .02 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOS and .004 ppt for PFOA.
South Korea regulates the total of PFOS and PFOA at 70 ppt. so the U.S. military command is pleased that its results are under this threshold.
Fleet Activities Chinhae
PFOA/PFOS - 10.8 ppt (2022).
Fleet Activities Busan
PFOA/PFOS - 18.0 ppt (2022).
Camp Carroll
PFOA/PFOS - 1,066 ppt (March, 2018).
PFOA/PFOS - 2.9 ppt (February, 2023).
Camp Walker
PFOA/PFOS - 789 ppt (March, 2018).
PFOA/PFOS - No detection (February, 2023)
Camp Red Cloud
PFOA/PFOS - 466 ppt (March, 2018).
PFOA/PFOS - 4.4 ppt (February, 2023)
Camp Stanley
PFOA/PFOS - 1,061 ppt (March, 2018)
PFOS/PFOA - 18.3 ppt (December, 2021)
USAG Humphreys
PFOA/PFOS - 23.8 ppt (December, 2022)
USAG Yongsan
PFOA/PFOS - 31.6 ppt (February, 2023)
USAG Casey (May, 2021)
No records
Kunsan Air Base
PFOA/PFOS - 85 ppt (March, 2018)
PFOA .325 ppt; PFOS - .69 (June, 2022)
Osan Air Base
PFOA/PFOS – No Detection. (2020)
Suwon Air Base
PFOA/PFOS – No Detection. (2019)
Camp Mujuk (USMC)
PFOA – 3.8; PFOS – No Detection. (2021)
The math is a little tricky because we don’t know the concentrations of either compound. In drinking water, we usually find much more PFOS than PFOA. The US EPA says drinking water above .02 part per trillion (ppt) for PFOS is a danger to health. So, at USAG Youngsan, the water is at least 1,580 times over what the US government says is safe. (31.6 / .02 = 1,580). Any presence of PFOA will increase this ratio.
South Korean frustrations with American environmental degradation
Dec. 26, 2021 - Local residents protest the handover to South Korea of the severely contaminated American Yongsan military base, citing high levels of contamination in the heart of Seoul. They pointed to dangerous levels of benzene, phenol, and total petroleum hydrocarbons. (NEWSIS/Handout via Xinhua)
Many South Koreans are frustrated by the lack of data and their inability to enter bases to perform environmental tests. Throughout most of the U.S., (with the notable exceptions of Hawaii and most Army bases), analytical results of PFAS contamination on bases in a host of media are readily available online for the public to see. All four branches follow the CERCLA process. CERCLA is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, otherwise known as the Superfund law. South Koreans are also in the dark because the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the United States and South Korea precludes South Korean government access to the bases for testing purposes. South Korea contributes somewhere between 30% to 44% toward the total cost of the U.S. presence.
PFAS in the rivers and the sea in South Korea
The South Korean Ministry of the Environment filed its National Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2019. The average concentration of 16 PFAS in seawater at 50 sites (2017) on 36 coastal areas nationwide in ppt was:
Media Mean Maximum
Sea Water 7.40 15.33
Incheon, Asan and Gunsan had the highest levels of PFAS in seawater. PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, and PFHxA were most prevalent.
Although these numbers don’t seem too high, PFOS bioaccumulates in seafood at hundreds to thousands of times the ambient water levels. The chemical is so dangerous that the state of Minnesota limits it to under .05 ppt in some lakes. PFAS levels are generally higher in freshwater rivers than they are in coastal areas by the sea. Generally, independent academic studies have reported much higher levels than the South Korean government.
The United States has yet to ratify the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, but participates as an observer in the meetings.
More surface water data
A 2020 study by Young Min-Lee, et. al. on PFAS in Asan Bay showed water with a concentration up to 467 ppt. The most prevalent compound was PFPeA, while PFOS was dominant in fish. Camp Humphreys is located on Asan Bay. High concentrations of PFOS at 651 ppt and PFOA at 62 ppt were reported in a river flowing into Shihwa Lake.
A 2016 study by Nguyen Hoang Lam, et. al. collected 65 surface water samples from coastal areas and found total PFAS concentrations up to 73.9 ppt with an average concentration of 22.1 ppt.
Fried Gray Mullet
PFAS in Fish and Crabs
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says food, especially seafood, accounts for up to 86% of the PFAS in our bodies. Meanwhile, neither the US nor South Korea regulate PFAS in food.
The filet of a Flathead Gray Mullet caught in Busan Bay, not far from the U.S. Busan Naval Base, contained a concentration of 125,030 ppt of PFOS. Meanwhile, South Korea limits drinking water to 70 ppt for PFOS and PFOA. Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not be eating this fish and neither should anyone else. Certainly, the blame for poisoning the fish is shared between industry and the military, although fish have been found with nearly 10 million parts per trillion of PFAS in waters near Wurtsmith Air Force Base in the U.S. Industry can’t match that.
PFDoDA, an unheralded, yet dangerous PFAS compound, was found in the muscle of fish in Busan Bay with these concentrations:
Aberjack 110,599 ppt
Grey Mullet 69,131
The health impacts of PFOS and PFOA have been widely reported, but PFDoDA is also extremely dangerous because it is associated with liver disease, cardiac defects, gestational diabetes, and eczema. The fish are loaded with a wide variety of these chemicals while almost all the focus by the U.S. military and the South Korean government has been on the drinking water.
A 2018 study by Duc, et.al. identified 13 separate PFAS compounds in 514 samples of blood, liver, muscle, and egg tissues of ten edible freshwater fish species from major rivers and lakes in Korea.
Fried Crucian Carp
Highest levels found in blood, liver, eggs, and muscle (ppt)
Blood of Crucian Carp 925,000
Liver of a Piscivorous Chub 598,000
Eggs of a Crucian Carp 283,000
Muscles of a Skygager 129,000
When we fry whole fish, we’re consuming blood, liver, eggs, and muscle (filet). For the sake of demonstrating the potential danger, let’s do a little math. If the fish contained 925,000 ppt of PFOS this would be 46.25 million times over the EPA limit for concentrations in drinking water. (925,000 / .02 = 46,250,000)
Camp Humphreys is located on waters that drain into Asan Bay. The drinking water is more than a thousand times over the EPA limit, while the fish, depending on the levels of PFOS, may contain nearly 10 million times the EPA limit for water. (Photo - Yonhap)
As we’ve seen, PFAS in Asan Bay showed water with a concentration up to 467 ppt of total PFAS. With bioaccumulation rates up to thousands of times above levels in the water, it is not surprising to see fish with 197,000 ppt of the carcinogens. We don’t know how much of this is the result of military activities at Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas U.S. military installation in the world.
Gejang is raw crab marinated in soy sauce. It wouldn’t be any safer if we cooked it. Contrary to popular belief, PFAS is not removed from food by cooking, unless temperatures reach nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius, temperatures above most incinerators.
According to a 2020 study by Choi, et. al., crabs in South Korea contain high levels of PFAS, while different PFAS compounds are concentrated in their tissues, depending on their habitat. South Korea imports huge quantities of crabs from China, India, and Pakistan. Generally, the crabs aren’t as dangerous as the fish.
19 different PFAS compounds were measured in the edible parts (body, legs, offal, and eggs) of crabs originating from South Korea (n = 17), China (n = 14), India (n = 7), and Pakistan (n = 31). The crabs were taken from fish markets in South Korea. All of the crabs were contaminated.
Highest levels of PFAS detected in crabs in ppt.
South Korea
PFOA 16,900
PFTrDA 5,350
China
PFOA 9,420
PFTrDA 2,400
Pakistan
PFOS 7,020
India
PFOS 5,880
PFTrDA is linked to human fetal growth retardation, which brings us to human breast milk.
Human Breastmilk in South Korea is highly contaminated with PFAS.
Mothers breast-feed their babies at Seodaemun Culture Center in central Seoul during the “Healthy Breastfed Baby Contest.” [JoongAng Ilbo]
A 2022 study by Kim, et. al., analyzed PFAS in breast milk from 207 “low-risk” Korean mothers. Twelve PFAS compounds were detectable in breast milk samples. PFOS and PFOA were detected in 100% of the samples.
The median concentrations for five compounds in ppt:
Compound Concentration
PFOS 50
PFOA 100
PFDA 31
PFNA 7
PFHxA 33
Total of median concentrations - 221 ppt
The PFAS concentrations in breast milk were higher than those reported in other studies or countries, according to the authors. These concentrations are also greater than the levels allowed by South Korea in drinking water. The study attributes fish consumption to dangerous PFOS concentrations in breastmilk. The median concentration of PFOA, arguably the deadliest of all PFAS, was 100 ppt, or 25,000 times over the U.S. EPA’s interim health advisory for drinking water. “Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days!”
Korean kids and their kidneys
When PFAS reaches the body through food, water, inhalation, skin, etc. it winds up in the kidneys and other organs. Because the main excretion route of PFAS from the body is from the kidneys, the effect of PFAS on kidney function is crucially important.
A 2023 study of Korean adolescents by the Korean Society of Occupational & Environmental Medicine found PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, and PFDeA and their sum were significantly associated with decreased kidney function.
Clinically, the most practical test to assess kidney function is to estimate glomerular filtration rate, (GFR). GFR is the rate in milliliters per minute at which substances in plasma are filtered through the glomerulus; in other words, the clearance of a substance from the blood.
The normal GFR for an adult male is 90 to 120 mL per minute.
Of the total 811 participants, 379 (46.7%) were male and 432 (53.3%) were female. The age of the study participants was 12–17 years, which was relatively evenly distributed.
Don’t allow the numbers below from Korea make your eyes glaze over. Simply put, as the levels of PFAS in blood (ug/L = ppb) increase, kidney function decreases.
There is a lesson here for veterans of military service and others with suspected occupational exposure to PFAS. This is why it is so important to have our blood checked for PFAS levels.
The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says there is an increased risk of adverse health effects if the total of seven PFAS compounds exceeds 2 ug/L. (MeFOSAA, PFHxS, PFOA, PFDA, PFUnDA, PFOS, and PFNA). 2 ug/L is the same as 2 parts per billion, or 2,000 parts per trillion. The august American scientific association says patients with a serum PFAS concentration of 2 ug/L or higher should be specifically screened for dyslipidemia, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy at all prenatal visits, and breast cancer. That would be pretty much all of the teenagers in Korea. And the scary thing about all of this is that the older the teenagers in Korea were, the more PFAS they had in their blood, and the more the performance of their kidneys was diminished.
The National Academies says patients with serum PFAS concentration of 20 ug/L or higher, which makes up 25% of the teenagers in Korea, ought to have the following tests performed during all routine visits:
Conduct thyroid function testing.
Assess for signs and symptoms of kidney cancer.
Assess for signs and symptoms of testicular cancer and ulcerative colitis.
Health professionals worldwide are increasingly calling for PFAS blood screening to examine for immune response, lipid metabolism, thyroid disease, kidney disease, liver disease, diabetes, various cancers, and fetal and child development.
Meanwhile, American military veterans, many with a very high likelihood of occupational exposure to PFAS, are not being screened. Critics say it’s because of the astronomical financial liability facing the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“VA does not recommend blood tests to determine levels of PFAS in any individual. This is because most people in the U.S. have measurable amounts of PFAS in their blood and normal ranges have not been established.”
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I will be travelling to Japan in September and October with a delegation from Veterans for Peace to address audiences and to test surface waters for PFAS in 20 cities. It is expensive! Please help us!
40 tests kits will cost 440,000 Yen - or $3,160. Please make a note that your contribution is for the Japan delegation. - Pat Elder
Financial support from the Downs Law Group makes this work possible. The firm is working to provide legal representation to individuals with a high likelihood of exposure to PFAS and other 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.
Interested in joining a multi-base class action lawsuit pertaining to illnesses stemming from various kinds of environmental contamination? Join the Veterans & Civilians Clean Water Alliance Facebook group. (2.4 K members and growing rapidly.)