[CPEO-MEF] PFCs: "Navy testing private wells for contaminant near Brunswick [ME] airbase"

[Lenny Siegel]

Navy testing private wells for contaminant near Brunswick airbase

By Kevin Miller 
Poland Press-Herald (ME)
July 10, 2016

BRUNSWICK - The Navy has tested several dozen residential wells on the outskirts of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station for the presence of a chemical suspected of posing health risks.

Officials from the Navy and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection say the voluntary water tests are aimed at determining whether the chemicals – perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs – are migrating in groundwater beyond known contamination sites on the former air base. Formerly a common ingredient in flame suppressants and household products such as nonstick cookware, PFCs have been shown to affect organ function in animals and are being intensely studied for impacts on humans.

The Brunswick water sampling comes one year after officials in New Hampshire began testing blood samples from individuals potentially exposed to PFCs in a public water well in Portsmouth located near the former Pease Air Force Base. Unlike in New Hampshire, where the chemicals’ discovery caused considerable controversy, PFCs have not been detected at elevated levels in Brunswick’s public water supplies.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/07/10/navy-testing-private-wells-for-contaminant-near-brunswick-airbase/

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel at cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org