Families on edge over water contamination at former New Hampshire air base.
Photo Credit: Elise Amendola/AP None of the three women can definitely say the exposure has been linked to health problems.
Still, they wonder whether their children’s frequent fevers and infection might suggest the chemicals are affecting their immune systems.
He’s active.
More worrisome, they said, is what the future holds for their children, since the chemicals can remain in the body for years.
"My concern is that their long-term health will be impacted by this significant exposure that they had as small children," said Amico, whose two children attend a Pease day care and have elevated PFC levels.
Prompted by an EPA advisory issued last year, the Air Force has investigated 190 bases for foam contamination and is treating groundwater or bringing in water at 20 bases, including Pease — a number that could grow.
Since 2015, New Hampshire health officials have tested the blood of more than 1,500 people — including 366 children — who worked on or lived near Pease or attended day care there.
It also found that children’s levels of some PFCs were twice as high as those in a 2012 study in Texas that examined 300 children; Dalton’s son had levels four times higher.
And several studies from the C8 Science Panel found links between exposure to PFOA and several types of cancers.