Pollution from US military bases?, Half of the residents in Tokyo have blood tests for harmful substances exceeding the limit. Japan | PFAS | region
In recent days, the term "PFAS" has once again become the focus of attention and discussion in Japanese media and the public. PFAS refers to harmful organic fluorine compounds. According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun website on June 12, high concentrations of PFAS have been detected in rivers and groundwater throughout Japan. The blood test results of residents around these rivers and groundwater show that many people have high concentrations of PFAS in their blood.
Recently, a citizen group and experts from the Tama area of Tokyo jointly conducted a blood test for residents, titled "Exposing Organic Fluorine Compound Pollution in the Tama Area", and announced the test results on the 8th. The test results show that out of 650 people who participated in blood testing, 335 people exceeded the standard for organic fluorine compounds in their blood, which is about 2.4 times the national average in Japan.
▲ Data image: On October 12, 2019, the water level of the Tama River in Japan increased significantly, and the river was turbid. Xinhua News Agency/Kyodo News Agency
Simply put, PFAS is a general term for perfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, referring to organic compounds containing fluorine that originally did not exist in nature and were artificially synthesized. There are over 4700 types of PFAS, with perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctane acid being typical representatives.
PFAS has the characteristics of waterproofing, oil resistance, heat resistance, and relatively stable chemical structure, and is widely used in the industry. With the increasingly widespread use of PFAS, its negative impact has also begun to raise concerns. PFAS is known as a "permanent chemical" because it is difficult to degrade under natural conditions and can accumulate in the environment and human body for a long time.
About 20 years ago, the representative substances of PFAS, PFOS and PFOA, were suspected to have carcinogenicity in places such as the United States. On June 2nd, a team led by Professor Tracy Woodruff from the University of California, San Francisco analyzed the internal documents of DuPont and 3M, the largest manufacturers of PFAS, in the scientific journal Global Health Yearbook. These documents revealed that they were aware of the dangers involved, but had concealed and delayed government regulation for decades.
The international community is currently strengthening controls. The Stockholm Convention stipulates that the production and use of PFOA and PFOS should be prohibited in principle before 2019, and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid will be added in 2022. The Stockholm Convention is an international convention that restricts the use of harmful chemicals. Japan has also introduced regulations that, in principle, prohibit domestic production and import of PFOS and PFOA before 2021, and plans to restrict the production and use of PFHxS.
According to Japan's provisional standards introduced in 2020, the average PFOS and PFOA content per liter of drinking water should not exceed 50 nanograms. According to the website of the Tokyo Metropolitan Water Company, the water quality inspection results in the Tama area show that the concentration of organic fluorine compounds in purified tap water from at least two water purification facilities is 2 to 3 times the relevant standard value. According to a report from the Japan Broadcasting Association, Associate Professor of Environmental Hygiene at Kyoto University, Hiroshi Harada, who is responsible for analyzing the blood test results, pointed out that the main reason for the high blood PFAS concentration among residents in the Tama region is the contamination of tap water in the area, which may be from the nearby US military Yokota base.
In fact, in recent years, news about excessive levels of organic fluoride in groundwater in many parts of Japan has become quite common. The results of the 2021 River and Groundwater Survey compiled by the Ministry of Environment showed that PFOS and PFOA concentrations exceeded standards in 81 locations in rivers and groundwater in 13 prefectures, including Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture, and Okinawa Prefecture. Among them, multiple locations are also related to the US military bases in Japan.
▲ Information image: This is an aerial photo taken on January 27, 2018 of the Japanese Okinawa based US military Futenma base in Japan. Xinhua News Agency/Meilian
Looking at past related news, there is a precedent for pollution issues at US military bases in Japan. Organic fluorides have been detected in drainage outlets, rivers, soil, and even tap water around US military bases located in Kanagawa, Okinawa, Aomori, and other places in Japan.
In January 2016, the Okinawa Prefectural Government of Japan detected high concentrations of organic fluorides in a water source near the US military's Kadena base in Japan. However, the Japanese side had no right to enter the base for investigation, and the US side has consistently refused to publicly acknowledge responsibility and accept the investigation. However, according to the Okinawa Times, internal emails from the US military suggest that the contamination is likely caused by the base.
In May 2022, the Yokosuka base of the US military stationed in Japan was exposed to have discharged wastewater containing excessive levels of organic fluoride. In July of the same year, the investigation conducted by the US military stationed in Japan showed that the concentration of organic fluoride near the drainage outlet leading to the sea at the base was about twice the standard. On September 30 of the same year, Yokosuka City announced that it had received a notice from the South Kanto Defense Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Defense that an investigation conducted by the US military stationed in Japan in August showed that the concentration of organic fluoride in the wastewater discharged into the sea from Yokosuka Base reached about 170 times the national standard of Japan. According to a report on the Kanagawa News website at the time, the authorities in Yokosuka city stated that they had to consider it a "normalized emission" from US military bases.
The Japanese people and local governments are constantly demanding entry into US military bases to thoroughly investigate pollution sources, while the US military is using the exclusive jurisdiction granted to the US military stationed in Japan by the Japan US Status Agreement to create obstacles for investigating pollution sources. As early as January 2023, Tokyo News criticized the Tokyo government for its slow actions. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government stated, "It's not about 'not investigating', but about 'not being able to' enter US military bases for investigation."
On June 12th, the Okinawa local television station Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting reported that the Okinawa government conducted a PFAS survey on the local wetlands and surrounding rivers, and the results detected a high concentration of PFAS equivalent to 104 times Japan's provisional standard value.
On May 15, 2022, in Okinawa, Japan, a large number of Okinawan residents held a rally demanding a reduction in the size of US military bases in Okinawa and even the complete withdrawal of US military bases.
Retired journalist Toshiichi Kawabata from Asahi Shimbun wrote in August 2021 in the Okinawa Times that the "US military base issue" is a "disease" that the entire country of Japan has contracted.
