How the U.S. Military Plans to Tackle Its ‘Forever Chemical’ Problem

September 25, 2024

Read the full article by Jeffrey Kluger (Time)

"The U.S. military has been protecting the home front for nearly 250 years—and doing a bang-up job of it. In recent decades, however, the military has also been polluting the home front, most notably with a toxic chemical never heard of in the era of muskets and drums: PFAS. That’s becoming a major problem—one that is now teeing up a major clash between environmental groups and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the one hand and the Department of Defense (DoD) on the other.

Short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS is an umbrella term for more than 12,000 substances colloquially known as “forever chemicals,” because that’s pretty much how long they linger in the environment and the body. PFAS have been linked to increased risk of kidney, testicular, and other cancers; changes in metabolism; higher cholesterol; low birthweight; pregnancy-related hypertension; damage to the immune system, and more. Virtually no one is safe: according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 99% of Americans have detectable levels of PFAS in their blood."