Exposure Hazardous - Radioactive Inside Soldiers and Missileers Medical Record, Maybe Also Ordinary Citizen

Cascade County 5.04 am / DC 7.04 am

Lawmakers (Congressmen and Senators) voiced alarm and concern this week as the Air Force continued testing the safety of working spaces at intercontinental ballistic missile bases after finding potentially dangerous levels of carcinogens at the facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Cascade Countty, Montana.

This is arguably more common case across the world. Since long time, resident near Nuclear research lab or TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) in Bandung and in North Yogyakarta (Babarsari) Indonesia complaint about potential radioactive exposure, even although in this last just use less milligram of uranium nuclear fuel. TRIGA is class of nuclear research reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics. The design team for TRIGA, which included Edward Teller, was led by the physicist Freeman Dyson. A total of 33 TRIGA reactors have been installed at locations across the United States. Those that remain operational continue to be upgraded/modernized. A further 33 reactors have been installed in other countries, at least 24 countries including Indonesia.

Air Force Global Strike Command announced that polychlorinated biphenyls, banned chemical compounds commonly known as PCBs that were used in building and electrical materials, were detected at Malmstrom during an ongoing study into possible toxic exposure and cancer concerns among America's current and former missileers.

In other case, Gary Flook served in the Air Force for 37 years, as a firefighter at the now-closed Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois and the former Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana, where he regularly trained with aqueous film forming foam, or AFFF — a frothy white fire retardant that is highly effective but now known to be toxic.

Flook volunteered at his local fire department, where he also used the foam, unaware of the health risks it posed. In 2000, at age 45, he received devastating news: He had testicular cancer, which would require an orchiectomy followed by chemotherapy.

Hundreds of lawsuits, including one by Gary Flook, have been filed against companies that make firefighting products and the chemicals used in them.

And multiple studies show that firefighters, both military and civilian, have been diagnosed with testicular cancer at higher rates than people in most other occupations, often pointing to the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the foam.

But the link between PFAS and testicular cancer among service members was never directly proven — until now.

A new federal study for the first time shows a direct association between PFOS, a PFAS chemical, found in the blood of thousands of military personnel and testicular cancer.

Using banked blood drawn from Air Force servicemen, researchers at the National Cancer Institute and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences found strong evidence that airmen who were firefighters had elevated levels of PFAS in their bloodstreams and weaker evidence for those who lived on installations with high levels of PFAS in the drinking water. And the airmen with testicular cancer had higher serum levels of PFOS than those who had not been diagnosed with cancer, said study co-author Mark Purdue, a senior investigator at NCI.

“To my knowledge,” Purdue said, “this is the first study to measure PFAS levels in the U.S. military population and to investigate associations with a cancer endpoint in this population, so that brings new evidence to the table.”

In a commentary in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, Kyle Steenland, a professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, said the research “provides a valuable contribution to the literature,” which he described as “rather sparse” in demonstrating a link between PFAS and testicular cancer.

More studies are needed, he said, “as is always the case for environmental chemicals.”

Old stocks of AFFF that contained PFOS were replaced in the past few decades by foam that contains newer-generation PFAS, which now also are known to be toxic. By congressional order, the Department of Defense must stop using all PFAS-containing foams by October 2024, though it can keep buying them until this October. That’s decades after the military first documented the chemicals’ potential health concerns.

A DoD study in 1974 found that PFAS was fatal to fish. By 1983, an Air Force technical report showed its deadly effects on mice.

But given its effectiveness in fighting extremely hot fires, like aircraft crashes and shipboard blazes, the Defense Department still uses it in operations. Rarely, if ever, had the military warned of its dangers, according to Kevin Ferrara, a retired Air Force firefighter, as well as several military firefighters who contacted KFF Health News.

“We were told that it was just soap and water, completely harmless,” Ferrara said. “We were completely slathered in the foam — hands, mouth, eyes. It looked just like if you were going to fill up your sink with dish soap.”

There are thousands of PFAS chemicals, invented in the 1940s to ward off stains and prevent sticking in industrial and household goods. Along with foam used for decades by firefighters and the military, the chemicals are in makeup, nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing, rugs, food wrappers, and a myriad of other consumer goods.

Known as “forever chemicals,” they do not break down in the environment and do accumulate in the human body. Researchers estimate that nearly all Americans have PFAS in their blood, exposed primarily by groundwater, drinking water, soil, and foods. A recent U.S. Geological Survey study estimated that at least 45% of U.S. tap water has at least one type of forever chemical from both private wells and public water supplies.

Health and environmental concerns associated with the chemicals have spurred a cascade of lawsuits, plus state and federal legislation that targets the manufacturers and sellers of PFAS-laden products. Gary Flook is suing 3M and associated companies that manufactured PFAS and the firefighting foam, including DuPont and Kidde-Fenwal.

Congress has prodded the Department of Defense to clean up military sites and take related health concerns more seriously, funding site inspections for PFAS and mandating blood testing for military firefighters. Advocates argue those actions are not enough.

“How long has [DoD] spent on this issue without any real results except for putting some filters on drinking water?” said Jared Hayes, a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Working Group. “When it comes to cleaning up the problem, we are in the same place we were years ago.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs does not recommend blood testing for PFAS, stating on its website that “blood tests cannot be linked to current or future health conditions or guide medical treatment decisions.”

But that could change soon. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), co-chair of the congressional PFAS Task Force, in June introduced the Veterans Exposed to Toxic PFAS Act, which would require the VA to treat conditions linked to exposure and provide disability benefits for those affected, including for testicular cancer.

“The last thing [veterans] and their families need to go through is to fight with VA to get access to benefits we promised them when they put that uniform on,” Kildee said.

Evidence is strong that exposure to PFAS is associated with health effects such as decreased response to vaccines, kidney cancer, and low birth weight, according to an expansive, federally funded report published last year by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The nonprofit institution recommended blood testing for communities with high exposure to PFAS, followed by health screenings for those above certain levels.

It also said that, based on limited evidence, there is “moderate confidence” of an association between exposure and thyroid dysfunction, preeclampsia in pregnant women, and breast and testicular cancers.

The new study of Air Force servicemen published July 17 goes further, linking PFAS exposure directly to testicular germ cell tumors, which make up roughly 95% of testicular cancer cases.

Testicular cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among young adult men. It is also the type of cancer diagnosed at the highest rate among active military personnel, most of whom are male, ages 18 to 40, and in peak physical condition.

That age distribution and knowing AFFF was a source of PFAS contamination drove Purdue and USUHS researcher Jennifer Rusiecki to investigate a possible connection.

Using samples from the Department of Defense Serum Repository, a biobank of more than 62 million blood serum specimens from service members, the researchers examined samples from 530 troops who later developed testicular cancer and those of 530 members of a control group. The blood had been collected between 1988 and 2017.

A second sampling collected four years after the first samples were taken showed the higher PFOS concentrations positively associated with testicular cancer.

Ferrara does not have testicular cancer, though he does have other health concerns he attributes to PFAS, and he worries for himself and his fellow firefighters. He recalled working at Air Combat Command headquarters at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia in the early 2010s and seeing emails mentioning two types of PFAS chemicals: PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA.

But employees on the base remained largely unfamiliar with the jumble of acronyms, Ferrara said.

Even as the evidence grew that the chemicals in AFFF were toxic, “we were still led to believe that it’s perfectly safe,” Ferrara said. “They kept putting out vague and cryptic messages, citing environmental concerns.”

When Ferrara was working a desk job at Air Combat Command and no longer fighting fires, his exposure likely continued: Joint Base Langley-Eustis is among the top five most PFAS-contaminated military sites, according to the EWG, with groundwater at the former Langley Air Force Base registering 2.2 million parts per trillion for PFOS and PFOA.

According to the EPA, just 40 parts per trillion would “warrant further attention,” such as testing and amelioration.

The Defense Department did not provide comment on the new study.

Air Force officials told KFF Health News that the service has swapped products and no longer allows uncontrolled discharges of firefighting foam for maintenance, testing, or training.

“The Department of the Air Force has replaced Aqueous Film Forming Foam, which contained PFAS, with a foam that meets Environmental Protection Agency recommendations at all installations,” the Air Force said in a statement provided to KFF Health News.

Both older-generation forever chemicals are no longer made in the U.S. 3M, the main manufacturer of PFOS, agreed to start phasing it out in 2000. In June, the industrial giant announced it would pay at least $10.3 billion to settle a class-action suit.

Alarmed over what it perceived as the Defense Department’s unwillingness to address PFAS contamination or stop using AFFF, Congress in 2019 ordered DoD to offer annual testing for all active-duty military firefighters and banned the use of PFAS foam by 2024.

According to data provided by DoD, among more than 9,000 firefighters who requested the tests in fiscal year 2021, 96% had at least one of two types of PFAS in their blood serum, with PFOS being the most commonly detected at an average level of 3.1 nanograms per milliliter.

Readings between 2 and 20 ng/mL carry concern for adverse effects, according to the national academies. In that range, it recommends people limit additional exposure and screen for high cholesterol, breast cancer, and, if pregnant, high blood pressure.

According to DoD, 707 active and former defense sites are contaminated with PFAS or have had suspected PFAS discharges. The department is in the early stages of a decades-long testing and cleaning process.

More than 3,300 lawsuits have been filed over AFFF and PFAS contamination; beyond 3M’s massive settlement, DuPont and other manufacturers reached a $1.185 billion agreement with water utility companies in June.

Attorneys general from 22 states have urged the court to reject the 3M settlement, saying in a filing July 26 it would not adequately cover the damage caused.

For now, many firefighters, like Ferrara, live with anxiety that their blood PFAS levels may lead to cancer. Flook declined to speak to KFF Health News because he is part of the 3M class-action lawsuit. The cancer wreaked havoc on his marriage, robbing him and his wife, Linda, of “affection, assistance, and conjugal fellowship,” according to the lawsuit.

Congress is again trying to push the Pentagon. This year, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) reintroduced the PFAS Exposure Assessment and Documentation Act, which would require DoD to test all service members — not just firefighters — stationed at installations with known or suspected contamination as part of their annual health checkups as well as family members and veterans.

The tests, which aren’t covered by the military health program or most insurers, typically cost from US$400 to US$600.

In June, Kildee said veterans have been stymied in getting assistance with exposure-related illnesses that include PFAS.

“For too long, the federal government has been too slow to act to deal with the threat posed by PFAS exposure,” Kildee said. “This situation is completely unacceptable.”

Additional air and surface sampling has been completed at Francis Emroy Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, and Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. Results will be available in roughly two months, she said.

"The samplings were recently completed at the three bases, and we anticipate a minimum of 60 days from when each sample was taken, before any holistic results are available," Capt. Lauren Linscott said. "We will continue to keep our Airmen out of areas that have not been mitigated for elevated PCBs."

Early this year, a Space Force officer detailed exposure risks and various cancer diagnoses among veterans who served at Malmstrom in a briefing, warning of a possible link between their service and cancer.

The Air Force began a study focusing on Malmstrom and expanded it in February to include a wide assortment of jobs at the nation's intercontinental ballistic missile bases.

In May, Air Force Global Strike Command announced "no immediate factors were discovered that would be considered immediate concerns for acute cancer risks" and added "no specific factors had been found at Malmstrom AFB to indicate an elevated risk level, environmental or otherwise, present at that installation."

But this week's announcement that carcinogens had been detected at two launch control centers and missile alert facility sites at Malmstrom shows that risks could still be uncovered by the ongoing study.

Two Montana lawmakers Rep. Matthew Martin “Matt” Rosendale Sr. and Sen. Raymond Jon Tester wrote letters to the Department of Defense voicing alarm over the recent findings.

"I'm deeply concerned by reports that hazardous materials linked to many types of cancer have been found at Malmstrom Air Force Base," Rosendale said in a statement. "Our service members should not be afraid to report for duty for fear that they will be exposed to toxic chemicals, carcinogens, or other dangerous substances."

Tester, the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, called on the Pentagon to take care of those affected and their families.

"I am deeply alarmed by the Air Force's most recent study, released this week, which revealed that unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen have been detected at Malmstrom," Tester wrote in a letter. "Our missileers play a critical role in protecting Montana and our nation, and I am calling on the Defense Department to ensure all potentially impacted service members and their families receive swift answers and appropriate care."

Production of polychlorinated biphenyls was outlawed in the U.S. by the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.

Overexposure to the oily substances in animal studies has been tied to a range of serious health conditions, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

"Three hundred surface swipe samples were taken from across all Malmstrom AFB," Air Force Global Strike Command said in a press release. "Of the swipes, 279 returned non-detectable results. Of the 21 with detectable results, 19 were below the mitigation level established by federal law and regulation."

The Space Force officer who first raised the alarm in a presentation at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, detailed 36 cases in which missileers who had been stationed at Malmstrom during their careers were diagnosed with a type of cancer.

Ten of the airmen who have received cancer diagnoses, according to his briefing, developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Two developed Hodgkin lymphoma, and 24 developed another form of cancer. Overall, eight of the 36 missileers with cancer diagnoses, the majority of whom served at Malmstrom sometime between 1997 and 2007, have died.

This is not the first time the military has investigated a link between missileer service and cancer clusters.

In 2001, the Air Force Institute for Operational Health did a site evaluation and sampled for potential chemical and biological contaminants at Malmstrom after cases of various cancers from missileers were reported -- including cervical cancer, thyroid cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma and two cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which those patients died, according to a report issued in 2005.

The Air Force said in 2005, following the release of the report, that "there is not sufficient evidence to consider the possibility of a cancer clustering to justify further investigation" and that "sometimes illnesses tend to occur by chance alone."

But the Air Force Medical Service, which is conducting the new "Missile Community Cancer Study," now says those conclusions may be outdated. Under a frequently asked question section on the service's website, the office says that the findings from two decades ago may have changed.

"We acknowledge time has passed and have the responsibility to investigate any potential service-related risks to airmen, Guardians or their dependents' health," the website says. "We take this responsibility seriously."

The issue is of great concern to the newly created Space Force, as more than 400 of the service's current officers are former missileers.

Additionally, the Torchlight Initiative, a non-government organization composed of current and former ICBM community members and their families, has a self-reported registry in which 268 current and former service members or their surviving family members tied to ICBM bases have reported cancer, diseases or illnesses.

So far, 217 of those cases are cancer and 33 are non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Roughly 46% of those self-reported cases are from those who served at Malmstrom Air Force Base.

According to Clara Iwasaki, Professor University of Alberta (Edmonton Canada, around 2,800 km from Los Alamos) “Oppenheimer built the bomb that killed my great-grandmother while her grandsons were drafted into the US army and the govt imprisoned her kids. If you're into moody great man biopics, I guess that's cool, but I personally really don't care how he felt while he was doing it.”

Los Alamos was inhabited by Hispanos. They were given less than 24 hours to leave. Their farms bulldozed.

Loyda Martinez’s dad was driven off their family's land when Oppenheimer and the US government seized it to make the labs. They then hired him, made him work with berrylium without protective gear (his white bosses got PPE) and he died of berryliosis, like many did. The radioactive fallout from J. Robert Oppenheimer’s nuclear bomb reached 46 states, Canada and Mexico within 10 days, a new study found.

President Joe Biden expressed support Wednesday (Aug 9th, 2023) for extending federal radiation exposure compensation to New Mexicans who suffered adverse health effects because of fallout from nuclear testing.

"I'm prepared to help in terms of making sure that those folks are taken care of," the president said after U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, in his speech before Biden's, made a push for compensation for the so-called downwinders, or people who were affected by nuclear fallout from the Trinity test.

The New Mexicans in the Tularosa area who were affected by the first atomic bomb test in 1945 — many of them say they suffer from cancers generations later — have so far not been eligible for federal compensation.

Luján and others pushed to add an amendment to this year's National Defense Authorization Act to make them eligible for the same federal compensation programs as Americans affected by some other nuclear tests, and it was added to the version of the bill that has passed the Senate.

Luján called on making sure that amendment stays in the final bill.

"We were able to pass an amendment that included the amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act," said Luján, who was among the people who spoke ahead of the president at an event to showcase the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law a year ago.

Cleanup and mitigation of the PCBs at Malmstrom are underway and were ordered by Air Force Global Strike Commander Gen. Thomas Bussiere.

"Based on the initial results from the survey team, which discovered PCB levels above the cleanup threshold designated by law in two of our facilities, I directed Twentieth Air Force to take immediate measures to begin the cleanup process for the affected facilities and mitigate exposure by our airmen and Guardians to potentially hazardous conditions," Bussiere said in a statement.

"These measures will stay in place until I am satisfied that we are providing our missile community with a safe and clean work environment," he said.

About the specific details of the cleanup and mitigation efforts, including whether missileers would be displaced from their routine workspaces, Linscott did not provide specifics, saying policies and procedures are being implemented by the workforces at those bases.

If resources for thorough cleanup and mitigation can't be provided by the bases, those services may be contracted out.

"We are currently partnered with bioenvironmental and medical teams from across the Air Force to determine their capacity for cleanup," Linscott said. "If they are unable, we expect to look for contract assistance."

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-prada- Adi Mulia Pradana is a Helper. Former adviser (President Indonesia) Jokowi for mapping 2-times election. I used to get paid to catch all these blunders—now I do it for free. Trying to work out what's going on, what happens next. Arch enemies of the tobacco industry, (still) survive after getting doxed. Now figure out, or, prevent catastrophic situations in the Indonesian administration from outside the government. After his mom was nearly killed by a syndicate, now I do it (catch all these blunders, especially blunders by an asshole syndicates) for free. Writer actually facing 12 years attack-simultaneously (physically terror, cyberattack terror) by his (ex) friend in IR UGM / HI UGM (all of them actually indebted to me, at least get a very cheap book). 2 times, my mom nearly got assassinated by my friend with “komplotan” / weird syndicate. Once assassin, forever is assassin, that I was facing in years. I push myself to be (keep) dovish, pacifist, and you can read my pacifist tone in every note I write. A framing that myself propagated for years.

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