Tag: pfas

NATO’s Nuclear Bases Have Poisoned Water and Fish

Nuclear armed air bases at Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Büchel in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi in Italy, and Volkel in the Netherlands have poisoned the environment with PFAS.

Massive fires were intentionally lit in large fire pits at these bases and extinguished with cancer-causing fire-fighting foams during routine training exercises dating back 40 years or longer.  Afterward, the foam residue was typically allowed to run off or drain into the soil. The “forever chemicals” pollute the soil, sewers, sediment, surface water, groundwater, and the air. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) bases regularly tested sprinkler systems in hangars to create a carcinogenic foam layer to coat the expensive aircraft. The sprinkler systems often malfunctioned. The foams were sent to sewers or deposited in groundwater or surface water.

The PFAS-laden foams work miraculously well in putting out super-hot petroleum-based fires, but remarkable technologies may escape our control and imperil humanity.

Two astonishing inventions in 1938 are like Daedalus’ fastening of wings to wax: the splitting of the uranium atom by German scientists and the discovery of per – and poly fluoroalkyl substances, (PFAS) by Dupont chemists in New Jersey.  It’s not a stretch. Both nuclear weaponry and PFAS chemicals are existential threats to humanity. Their development and use are inextricably linked.

Wherever nuclear weapons are found, huge quantities of PFAS foams are ready to be used to snuff out a fire that may cause unimaginable destruction.

Like Pandora’s nightmare, once PFAS is let loose we can’t get it back in the box. We can’t get rid of it. We can’t bury it. We can’t incinerate it. We don’t know what to do with it. Notions of ”cleaning up” PFAS from these practices are largely misguided, propagandistic ploys promulgated by the U.S. military.

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Scary new study reveals PFAS “forever chemicals” can seep through human skin

Forget what you’ve been told in the past about your skin acting as a barrier to protect you from exposure to toxins as a new study shows that the dangerous “forever chemicals” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are absorbed through the skin at much higher levels than once believed.

This is according to a study carried out by researchers from the University of Birmingham, who conducted research with lab-grown tissue designed to mimic human skin to get a clearer picture of how much of these chemicals are absorbed.

They determined that “uptake through the skin could be a significant source of exposure to these harmful chemicals.” After applying samples of 17 PFAS compounds to their tissue model, they measured the proportions that were absorbed. They found that “substantial” amounts were absorbed by the skin and reach our bloodstream, which goes against previous claims that the skin serves as a barrier to protect us from these compounds.

For example, when it comes to one of the most common – and most toxic – varieties, PFOA, they found that the skin took in 13.5%, with an additional 38% being absorbed with a longer application. When you consider the fact that regulators in the U.S. say there is no level of safe exposure to the chemical in drinking water and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has designated it as “carcinogenic to humans,” it’s clear we should all be concerned.

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