U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, wrote to U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, on Tuesday, urging McCain to help fund a nationwide health study for Americans exposed to perfluorinated compounds in their drinking water.
McCain is the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Casey requested he use his stature to include funding for a study in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.
The letter also was addressed to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, who is the ranking Democrat on the committee.
An appropriations bill determines the annual military budget, while the authorization act provides the legal authority to spend the money.
That process is taking place this week, and Casey’s office said McCain has stated he’d like to see the full Senate vote on the authorization bill sometime in July or August.
Casey also revealed in his letter that acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Potochney wrote to him in February stating that “The DoD supports the development of a nationwide health effects strategy by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR) for PFOS and PFOA.” The number of exposed people is estimated to be as many as 15 million.
Many, such as an estimated 70,000 current residents of Bucks and Montgomery counties, were exposed when firefighting foams used at military bases degraded over decades into toxic chemicals PFOS and PFOA and entered water supplies.
The military is engaged in a widespread response, investigating potential contamination at hundreds of bases across the country and setting aside billions of dollars for cleanup.
Previous studies conducted by independent researchers or as the result of lawsuits have found some links to a variety of illnesses, including some cancers.
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