From Draft NOtices, April - June 2019
-- Paula Hoffman Villanueva
We all know what collateral damage means to the military, but this casual reference to supposedly unintended death can, tragically, be applied to an immensely larger victim: the Earth and life that exists on it. The U.S. military creates more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined, contaminating the planet with jet fuel, defoliants (e.g., Agent Orange), lead, depleted uranium, nuclear waste, oil and many more toxic chemicals, to create millions of acres of barren wasteland and contaminated ground water. The facts and the health risks are staggering, and we are only partially aware of the truth.
Most recently, in a February 2019 report by Julie Turkewitz of The New York Times, we learned that military families and other residents living near five military bases in Colorado are speaking up about illnesses related to contaminated water systems. The man-made chemicals in question, which are used in firefighting foam, are called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They have been linked to kidney and testicular cancer and other serious health problems. The chemicals do not break down, but rather stay in the water system and in the human body indefinitely. “Forever chemicals” is the term used by many scientists.
Although the dangers of PFAS have been known by the EPA for years, the military continued to use them until recently. In 2000, 3M stopped producing the foam containing PFAS, but the military found other companies willing to continue production -- after all, landing a contract with the Department of Defense is extremely lucrative. Not until this February did the EPA announce that in the future there will be regulatory action and restrictions regarding PFAS. But it was too little, too late. PFAS are now found in the ground and in water systems on military bases and in nearby communities around the globe.
The Department of Defense admits that worldwide, at least 55 drinking water systems on military bases are contaminated with PFAS. This does not include the water systems of neighboring communities. Patrick Breysse at the federal Centers for Disease Control concludes that these chemicals in drinking water have become “one of the most seminal public health challenges” of the coming decades. He estimates that 10 million people could be drinking water with high levels of PFAS.
For years, communities on and close to military bases have been dealing with health issues caused by PFAS. Law firms and sick residents are not waiting for the EPA to conduct its studies and publish findings. Cancer clusters don’t lie, and even normally unquestioning soldiers are organizing around this crisis. Litigation is difficult because of government immunity, but many class action law suits are being planned against DuPont and other chemical companies that produced the firefighting foam. As would be expected, the government refuses to pay for simple blood tests to determine levels of the toxins in those who are sick, perhaps because another Agent Orange crisis would be unimaginably costly. Many will die before cases are won. Just recently, thirty years after the U.S. Marine Base at Camp Lejeune (Jacksonville, NC) contaminated groundwater by dumping chemicals in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, families are able to submit compensation claims.
War’s death and destruction comes in many forms. We need not be reminded of the obvious. But we do need to include the not-so-obvious destruction of Mother Earth in our struggle against militarism and for peace.
Information sources: “Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Drinking Water Leave Military Families Reeling,” New York Times, February 22, 2019. “U.S. Military Is World’s Biggest Polluter,” www.ecowatch.com, May 15, 2017.
This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (http://www.comdsd.org/index.php/draft-notices).
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