Germany is experiencing a public health crisis with millions of people potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with Per and Poly Fluoroalkyl Substances, or PFAS.
A major source of this chemical contamination comes from the aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) used in routine fire-training on U.S. military bases. After igniting, then dousing massive fires with the lethal foam containing PFAS, the American bases allow the poisons to leach into the groundwater to contaminate neighboring communities which use groundwater in their wells and municipal water systems.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA), exposure to PFAS “may result in adverse health effects, including developmental effects to fetuses during pregnancy or to breastfed infants (e.g., low birth weight, accelerated puberty, skeletal variations), cancer (e.g., testicular, kidney), liver effects (e.g., tissue damage), immune effects (e.g., antibody production and immunity), thyroid effects and other effects (e.g., cholesterol changes).” PFAS also contributesmicro-penis, and low sperm count in males.
Confidential U.S. military documents leaked to the German news magazine Volksfreund in 2014 showed that groundwater at Ramstein Airbase contained 264 ug/L or 264,000 parts per trillion (ppt.) of PFAS. Other samples at Ramstein were shown to contain 156.5 ug/l or156,500 ppt. The water monitoring program of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in the vicinity of the Spangdahlem Air Base found PFAS at concentrations of 1.935 ug/l or 1,935 ppt. The drainage system in Spangdahlem is still spreading the chemicals.
Harvard scientists say Perfluoro Octane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluoro Octanoic Acid (PFOA), two of the most deadly kinds of PFAS, are likely to be harmful to human health at concentrations of 1 part per trillion (ppt) in drinking water. Fishing ponds, streams and rivers around the airfields in Germany are a thousand times more contaminated than they should be according to EU requirements.