Bottom line: The man-made chemical compounds found in military fire-fighting foam, perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid, known commonly as PFOS and PFOA, are hardy, toxic chemicals that do not degrade in soil or water, and can be absorbed by humans through drinking water, or through the soil or air.
In people, the study found that exposure could be associated with pregnancy complications, thyroid issues, liver damage, asthma, decreased responsiveness to vaccines, decreased fertility and kidney and testicular cancer.
The report’s findings on human exposure — and which looked at the whole population, not just military locations — were based on multiple studies of populations near contaminated water sources.
Based on 187 peer-reviewed studies where laboratory rats or other animals directly ingested the compounds, the results were more dire.
At significantly decreased exposure levels the subject rats survived but had increased prenatal loss in pregnant lab rats, and increased loss of the pups after birth.
To leave a public comment on the report, the study directed respondents to go to regulations.gov.
On military bases, the compounds seeped into the soil and water through the use of fire fighting foams.
After the foams were sprayed on aircraft, the remaining foam and chemicals would just be dumped onto the ground, or into a drain, multiple former airmen have told Military Times.
“It was just draining into whatever drains were around,” Paul Cyman, who served as an Air Force firefighter from 1969 to 1973.
The 2019 bill also supports creation of a national registry for service members, their families and the public to report exposure to the contaminants.

An East End community’s drinking water may be contaminated with a dangerous chemical compound.
The compound PFC was detected in a sample well, south of a former landfill on Damascus Road in East Quogue.
The site was also once used for fire training and is near a former landfill.
According to Newsday, the compound was detected at more than 150 times the acceptable level, which officials say can cause health problems.
"It causes things like damage to the liver and to the kidneys and to the pancreas.
It also can harm developing fetuses."
"This environment is supposed to be pristine," says Bill Kearns.
Southampton Town will be providing drinking water to homes with private wells.
"I didn’t buy a house to have to drink out of bottles of water," Kearns says.
Anyone seeking free bottled water in the affected area can call Southampton Town Hall at 631-283-6055.

Algae causing taste, odor problems in region’s drinking water.
Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail In parts of Anderson and Pickens counties, the tap water tastes and smells so bad right now that some dogs won’t drink it.
"I feel bad because I didn’t realize at first that she wasn’t drinking what was coming from our sink," Shead said.
So I started giving her bottled water just like we are using.
Shead is one of nearly 200,000 customers in the Upstate whose drinking water is provided by the Anderson Regional Joint Water System.
In the span of 10 days, regional water system officials saw taste- and odor-producing compounds jump to roughly five times the amount they can effectively handle with treatments at the Anderson plant headquarters.
(Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail) When water system officials do a lake treatment, they have crews sometimes apply a copper-based algaecide on a portion of the lake, then follow that with a hydrogen-peroxide based algaecide around coves and docks.
"We can’t treat algae before we can see it," Willett said.
"We don’t want to do any more to the lake than we have to."
The project will allow regional water system officials to use more advanced oxidation processes when treating the water before it is ready for the tap.