U.S. Navy Fleet Activities Yokosuka contaminates Japan by using PFAS in hundreds of products and applications daily
Yokosuka’s Mayor Katsuaki Kamiji has attracted worldwide attention by demanding the Navy release PFAS test results of treated sewer water routinely discharged into Tokyo Bay.
The sewer water contains dangerous levels of PFOS and PFOA, two highly carcinogenic compounds.
By Pat Elder
March 13, 2024
There are hundreds of products containing carcinogenic PFAS that are routinely used and discarded by the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka. Here we have four products made with PFAS that the U.S. military says are irreplaceable because of national security concerns.
The tape is made of Poly Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (PTFE), a kind of PFAS, known commercially as Teflon. Nothing works better, although there is no way to safely dispose of this product in Japan without jeopardizing human life. The same is true with the other products shown here.
3M’s 74 Spray Adhesive bonds foam and fabric to a wide range of substances - better than anything. Viton, a product of the Chemours Company, is made with PFAS and is added to synthetic rubber. Nothing else does a better job and nothing cleans engine parts better than PFAS chemicals. 3M’s Novec Cleaner is loaded with PFAS. It is all irreplaceable, according to the U.S. military.
PFAS is superman.
An open letter to Katsuaki Kamiji, Mayor of Yokosuka City, Japan
Katsuaki Kamiji, Mayor of Yokosuka City, Japan
Dear Mayor Kamiji,
Your Request to the Japanese Minister of Defense (Feb 20, 2024) addressing carcinogenic PFAS entering the sea through the wastewater treatment facility at United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka is a historic document. You are a champion of human health over political expediency!
You have repeatedly asked for the results of the PFAS testing of the effluent at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, but the U.S. Navy refuses to respond. This is indefensible. The people of the great city of Yokosuka, Japan should be entitled to know the levels of the carcinogens routinely discharged into Tokyo Bay.
We must understand the history to confront the injustice taking place while the U.S. Navy continues to pollute the region and withholds scientific data concerning the environmental devastation.
In September, 2022, the U.S. Navy shocked the world when it released data showing Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) at 12,900 ppt (parts per trillion) in industrial wastewater at United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka. Mainichi Shimbun reported that 8,592 ppt of PFOS were detected in the wastewater discharged from the base's treatment plant.
Mr. Mayor, you understand that these carcinogens are so powerful that one part per trillion in the Tokyo Bay’s water can contaminate aquatic, plant, and animal life. PFOA tends to congregate in the solid waste at wastewater treatment plants, so it is important to know how the PFOA-loaded sewer sludge is being “disposed.” If it is spread on farm fields, the crops are likely to be poisonous. Incinerating the material typically fails to break the compounds down, resulting in poisoned skies, rain, soil, and seas.
PFOS may bioaccumulate in fish filet up to 2,000 times the levels in the water. Yokosuka is in big trouble and so is Tokyo Bay, where industries and the military in the great cities of Tokyo, Kawasaki, Yokohama, and Yokosuka routinely discharge these chemicals into Tokyo Bay.
PFOS concentrations in the liver and blood of five species of fish in Tokyo Bay are shown here in parts per trillion.
PFHxS and PFBS were also found at dangerous levels in the fish. Many other PFAS compounds are known to bioaccumulate in fish tissue.
People are alarmed when PFAS levels exceed 50 ppt in drinking water, but few are thinking about the fish.
These chemicals infiltrate the water. They coat the sediment of the bays, rivers, and the ocean. They become part of the coastal shoreline and are dried by the sun and lifted by the wind. The carcinogens PFOA, PFOS, and PFHxS have been found in dust in homes in millions of parts per trillion near military installations in the U.S., threatening the smallest children.
The chief pathway to human ingestion, however, is through the fish we consume.
Mayor Kamiji, Although I only possess an embarrassing and cursory understanding of Japanese intellect, history, and culture, I don’t believe the Japanese people comprehend the threat here, although you sure do.
I remember reading a statement from your office in 2022 expressing concern for the fishing industry considering the levels of PFOS being released by the Navy.
This is astounding!
You understand the carcinogen PFOS bioaccumulates in fish and you’re willing to say it publicly. This is the mark of a great statesperson. I still cannot find a single Maryland politician willing to say the fish in the Chesapeake watershed are poisoned by the military’s activities.
We are all subjects to the same authority, and I don’t think the Japanese people are being singled out for harsh treatment if that makes you feel any better. The United States Navy has poisoned the seawater and fish here in Maryland as well, and we are also powerless to do much about it.
When we see elevated blood levels among segments of the Japanese population it is the result of eating the fish as well as drinking the water and breathing the dust and the air.
Yokosuka, Japan September 24, 2023
In late 2022, the Navy installed the red granular activated carbon (GAC) filters shown here at the wastewater treatment facility. This occured after the city’s vehement reaction upon learning of the dangerous levels.
Although GAC is effective in the removal of long-chain PFAS, the technology shows generally poorer performance in treating short-chain PFAS. Both short-chain and long-chain PFAS compounds are found in the seafood people eat.
On October 21, 2023, a year after installing the filters, the Navy suddenly reported that the operation of the granular activated carbon filters had stopped. The Navy told the city the values of PFOS, etc. were “stable.”
The Navy explained to the town that “It would be difficult to determine the cause (of PFAS releases) because the wastewater treatment facility processes all the wastewater from the large-scale Yokosuka naval facility.”
The mayor wrote that the GAC filters were discontinued after confirming that the water before and after passing through the granular activated carbon filter was below the provisional guideline values of 50 ppt. This may be true - at a certain moment in time – when mostly non-PFAS bearing waste streams flow in and out of newly installed GAC filters. But we don’t really know because the Navy won’t tell us.
The monitoring ought to be constant and the process must be transparent. People should know these levels like they know the day’s temperature.
Let’s examine how they’re using PFAS on base.
Congress directed the DOD to prepare a report outlining the uses of PFAS that 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.
The U.S. government recognized that individual U.S. states were increasingly passing laws restricting the use of PFAS. In response, the military carved out all of its uses of the toxins and deemed them to be necessary for national security - the god of law.
Critical PFAS uses were identified in every major weapon system.
Here’s a quick listing of several broad categories of hundreds of ways the U.S. Forces Japan use PFAS.
A crime is inherent in the manufacture of each of these commodities.
· Energy Storage and Batteries
· Microelectronics and Semiconductors
· Castings and Forgings and Strategic and Critical Minerals
· Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Cooling
· Electronics Thermal Control
· Fire Suppression in Naval Vessels, Aircraft and Vehicles
· Aqueous Film Forming Foam
· Lines, Hoses, O-Rings, Seals and Gaskets,
· Tapes, and Cables and Connectors
· Electronic/Dielectric Fluids
· Advanced Oils, Greases, Fluids, and Lubricants
· Precision Cleaning Fluids
· Degreasing/Cleaning Fluids
· Adhesives
· Insulation and Foam Blowing
· Resins for Specialty Materials
· Specialty Filters and Membranes
· Uniform fabrics, Fabric Liners, and Fabric Barriers
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Mr. Mayor, You have spent too much time demanding accountability from the U.S. Forces Japan. Forget about the Status of Forces Agreement and the unfairness of it all. Verify the existence of the commercial products specifically mentioned in the DOD’s Report on Critical Uses of Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances and go after the manufacturers of these products. 3M and Chemours come to mind. It is the only remedy available to you.
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