PFAS Military Use

Military & PFAS

The Department of Defense (DOD) has released dates showing that PFAS contaminates more than 600 military sites across the US. The DOD's use of firefighting foam made with PFAS, also known as aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, is the primary source of PFAS pollution at military installations.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has created an excellent US map of suspected and confirmed military sites with contamination.  You can click on the sites you are interested in and learn more about the site and the suspected types of PFAS contamination. Find the map here.

Another excellent source for military contamination is The PFAS Contamination Site Tracker, a project of Northeastern University PFAS Project Lab, that records qualitative and quantitative data from each site in a chart, specifically examining discovery, contamination levels, government response, litigation, and health impacts. All data presented in the chart were extracted from government websites, such as state health departments or the Environmental Protection Agency, and news articles.  

If you are interested in the history of PFAS, the EWG has also created an excellent historical timeline, documenting what the DOD knew about PFAS and when it knew it. It’s hard to realize that there is literally “no defense” -- the DOD has known for decades that PFAS causes health and environmental risks.  Access the timelines here.

Here are two short videos that deal with military contamination:

How Military Pollution Could Cause The Next Water Crisis
CNBC, 21 minutes

Toxic Firefighting Foam Causing Cancer in People Living Near Military Bases
The Intercept, 2/12/2018, 6 minutes