The Partial Observer by Jonathan Sharp
Vets Could Benefit from VET PFAS Act
By the early 1970s, U.S. military bases began heavily employing aqueous film-forming foam for firefighter training and quelling hydrocarbon fuel fires. The foam was the result of a collaboration between the Navy’s Research Lab and the 3M chemical corporation, which added per/polyfluoroalkyl substances to its composition for their formidable surfactant properties.
PFAS are a class of over 14,700 artificial compounds commonly called “forever chemicals” because their durable molecular bonds prevent natural decomposition. Of these thousands of subtypes, the ones used in fluorinated firefighting foams were PFOA and PFOS, which were also present in consumer products like Teflon and Scotch Guard.
Although AFFF manufacturers maintained that both compounds were inert ingredients that posed no threat to human health, internal documents and communications going back decades indicate otherwise. Not only were manufacturers aware of PFOA and PFOS’ hazardous potential, but they also didn’t disclose this information to federal authorities.
After independent research into forever chemicals’ effects started picking up in the early 2000s, studies found that PFAS are environmentally resilient and mobile toxins that can easily contaminate drinking water sources. Since they’re also bio accumulative, particularly in the bloodstream, chronic exposure has been linked to higher cancer risks and a host of adverse health effects and conditions.
The EPA released non-regulatory advisories for PFOA and PFOS in 2016, which defined concentrations greater than 70 parts per trillion in drinking water as unsafe. The Department of Defense would subsequently perform site assessments at over 700 military bases where AFFF is known or suspected to have been used.
In the Empire State, DoD testing found PFOA and PFOS in groundwater samples collected from several military installations across the state, albeit to differing degrees.
Peekskill’s Camp Smith registered combined levels of 168 ppt, while the highest detection at Watertown’s Fort Drum registered 6,600 ppt of PFOS. However, these concentrations pale in comparison with the levels reported at Plattsburgh AFB (1,045,000 ppt).
As manufacturers suppressed both compounds’ toxicity for years, PFOA and PFOS weren’t adequately accounted for as enduring health risks. Consequentially, even though the Department of Veteran Affairs tacitly admits PFAS’ hazardous potential, it doesn’t regard “forever chemical” exposure as a presumptive service-related factor that would automatically guarantee former service members’ access to disability benefits and compensation.
Veterans filing claims with the VA first have to prove that their condition is unequivocally service-connected. Problematically, the current evidence for PFAS’ precise causal relation to deadly diseases isn’t seen as sufficiently substantive enough, meaning that “forever chemical” exposure could fail to be reflected as a determinant or contributive cause in most medical diagnoses.
Meanwhile, ongoing research continues to find evidence of the compounds’ causal links to life-threatening conditions, with a recent federal study determining that U.S. Air Force service members’ higher PFOS blood levels were positively associated with increased testicular cancer risks.
The mounting knowledge of PFAS’ long-lasting implications for human health and the environment has nevertheless prompted promising regulatory actions addressing “forever chemicals.”
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act would finance ongoing PFAS investigations and cleanup projects on affected bases, including facilities in New York State, and require the armed forces to discontinue AFFF use by October 2024. Earlier this year, the DoD adopted new military specifications for non-fluorinated firefighting foams.
In March 2023, the EPA proposed the first national standards for PFAS in drinking water, which would effectively reduce acceptable PFOA and PFOS concentrations to only 4 ppt. Once officially legislated, with a final decision on the matter expected later this year or by 2024, the EPA’s standards will likely have extensive ramifications.
Although the 2022 PACT Act sought to address a broad range of service-related toxic exposures, the bill doesn’t include specific provisions regarding PFAS exposure and its enduring effects. Despite its seemingly dismissive stance on “forever chemicals,” the PACT Act’s success serves as a motivating example for similarly minded legislative proposals.
In June 2023, Rep. Dan Kildee reintroduced the Veterans Exposed to Toxic PFAS Act to the House, with a companion bill submitted to the Senate a month later by Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Notably, the bill has been on the books yet continuously passed over since 2018.
Under the VET PFAS Act, veterans’ and military dependents’ PFAS-related conditions, which can be traced back to their residence on contaminated military bases, would be presumptively recognized as service-connected, enabling eligible individuals’ access to adequate healthcare benefits and compensation.
Jonathan Sharp is the CFO of Environmental Litigation Group PC, a law firm from Birmingham, Alabama, that specializes in toxic exposure cases and assists individuals harmed by hazardous substances on contaminated military installations.