Environmental officials are investigating New Zealand’s use of firefighting foam that contains banned chemicals.
The foam has already been found to have contaminated groundwater underneath the air force bases at Ohakea and Woodbourne.
Human bodies get rid of PFOA and PFOS from their systems much more slowly than other animal species.
It has been banned in firefighting standards in New Zealand since 2006 and hasn’t been used by the Defence Force since 2002.
That can happen after being consumed in water, or food produced with contaminated soil and water, or fish living in contaminated water.
The Defence Force has confirmed that soil and groundwater at Ohakea and Woodbourne airbases is contaminated above acceptable levels.
It is unclear why the level for milk is so much higher than for drinking water (70 parts per trillion).
What levels are okay?
New Zealand has adopted the Australian standards, which, for drinking water, is 70 parts per trillion for PFOS and 560 parts per trillion for PFOA.
Once removed, the levels in the blood decrease – studies have shown a 60 percent fall in four years.

The foam was used in training by defence staff at Base Woodbourne, in Marlborough, and Ohakea, in Manawatū.
Environment Minister David Parker said government agencies were investigating potential water contamination around Woodbourne and Ohakea air bases.
Parker said levels of two chemical compounds, PFOS and PFOA, found by the NZ Defence Force (NZDF), were above guidelines for groundwater at these sites.
"As a result, we wish to test the water of properties neighbouring the bases, to see if their water is contaminated," Parker said.
About 60 properties near the Ohakea air base, mostly dairy farms, could be affected by the contamination, a Ministry for the Environment spokesperson said.
The same foam had also been used at commercial airports.
The ministry was not aware of any having undertaken testing for contamination, but it would be talking to airport owners in the coming months.
Water for the farm comes from a bore on the property, but people do not drink from it, he said.
Rooney said the council was sampling its own water supplies to gather testing results, which would be completed in the New Year.
​The Defence Force hasn’t received new supplies of the foam since 2002.

They are considered ’emerging contaminants’ because of limited data on their health impacts.
(TNS) – Manmade toxins that likely came from foams used years ago in firefighting have been found in 26 drinking-water wells near Fairbanks International Airport, according to the airport.
Of 33 tested wells serving residences and businesses, 19 had levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — PFAS for short — above the health advisory level set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the airport said.
The chemicals were found in another seven wells, but in amounts below the health advisory limits.
These chemicals may hurt the ability of children to learn and grow, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They can hurt the ability of women to get pregnant, interfere with a body’s natural hormones and affect the immune system, the CDC said.
The offer goes to those in the area "whether they have been tested yet or not," she said.
Testing through contractor Shannon & Wilson is continuing, the airport said.
Homes and businesses with PFAS levels above the EPA health advisory will be connected to the area’s water utility, she said, though that work cannot be done until after breakup.
Chemical foam isn’t used in training anymore though the airport must use it in required annual inspections to prove its firefighting system is in order, she said.

’Gas marbles’ surprise with their strength.
Robust bubbles of gas encapsulated in a microsphere–liquid shell could trap gases Extremely strong and stable bubbles have been created by trapping a small amount of gas in a liquid film surround by polymer microparticles.1 The researchers have dubbed the new bubbles ‘gas marbles’ and say that they could be used as tiny chemical reactors, to stabilise foams or to capture toxic gases.
Such materials have already been used to manipulate small quantities of liquids or as microreactors and water pollution sensors.
Similar to their liquid relatives, the new gas marbles can roll on surfaces and withstand external forces, but while liquid marbles maintain their shape thanks to the properties of the liquid inside them, there is only air inside the gas marbles.
‘At first glance, [their strength] is surprising, but these materials contain two fluid–fluid interfaces, inner gas–water and water–outer gas, whereas liquid marbles contain only one, water–gas or oil–gas,’ says Bernard Binks, a physical chemist at the University of Hull, UK, ‘Gas marbles were first generated by accident while we were studying particulate films,’ says co-author Yousra Timounay at the University of Syracuse in the US.
The new material consists of a volume of air enclosed in a shell of polystyrene beads connected by an aqueous surfactant solution.
During the process, the particle film detaches from the frame and closes over itself to form a bubble.
To test the stability of the gas marbles, the researchers varied the pressure inside them by injecting or removing gas with a syringe until they burst or collapsed.
This remarkable strength is due to cohesion between neighbouring particles induced by the liquid film between them.
‘However, they may be of use as controlled release vehicles, say, of volatile perfumes from inner to outer gas phases upon application of a suitable trigger like temperature,’ Binks adds.

Fire fighting foam contamination sites clustered along Delaware River.
A national mapping project detailing tap water contaminated with toxic chemicals used in fire fighting foams and nonstick frying pans shows a large number of those public water systems along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
The chemicals, commonly referred to as PFC’s, (and include PFOA and PFOS), are used by manufacturers in making non-stick pans, waterproof clothing, take out food packaging, and fire-fighting foams.The compound is no longer manufactured in the U.S., but increasing numbers of drinking water sources have been found to contain levels that exceed EPA’s maximum contaminant levels.
The report, entitled “Mapping a Contamination Crisis,” reveals 15 million people are exposed to PFC’s through their drinking water resulting from use of the chemical at manufacturing sites and military bases across the country.
David Andrews, a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group, says the bulk of the data came from the EPA, which required drinking water facilities that served more than 10,000 people to test for PFC’s between 2013 and 2016 and report findings to the federal government of levels above 20 parts per trillion for PFOA and 40 ppt for PFOS.
Andrews says they found 162 systems serving 15.1 million people had high PFC levels.
Seventeen of those tap water sources were located in Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware along the Delaware River.
New Jersey officials have recommended lowering the maximum levels from 70 ppt to 14 ppt.
Some have suggested it should be as low as 1 ppt.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network recently petitioned Pennsylvania officials to set a lower level than the federal standard based on new peer-reviewed research into the health impacts.

Lough Melvin: Foam prompts water quality fear on Lough Melvin.
Northern Ireland Water has said there is “no evidence to suggest” that the foam has been caused by pollution from the Garrison waste water treatment works but Leitrim Councillor Justin Warnock has called for questions to be asked of water officials in Fermanagh.
He stated: “On behalf of Lough Melvin anglers and residents of Askill and Bundoran who source their drinking water from this lake [I ask that we write to] Fermanagh County Council and question what is being discharged into this lake from its sewage/waste water treatment plant at Garrison which causes a very visible foam like slick which can extend from Garrison to Kinlough peir and entombs invertebrates as it travels.” Speaking to The Impartial Reporter this week, he said: “Up until 15 years ago, the water quality in Lough Melvin was second to none but more people are using chemicals in toilets, showers etc.
“The lough has salmon, char as well as gillaroo, ferox and sonaghan strains of trout.
“A recent EPA report showed increased levels of phosphorous in the lough which could be as a result of agriculture, although there’s no intensive farming in the area; forestry; or pollution/sewage.
“The big question is: ‘What’s happening at Garrison?’” Fermanagh and Omagh District Council said it has not received a letter from Leitrim County Council on the issue.
A spokesman added: “Water pollution matters are dealt with by DAERA via NI Environment Agency Staff.” A NI Water spokeswoman told The Impartial Reporter: “NI Water can confirm that Garrison Wastewater Treatment Works has been visited and subsequently reviewed again this afternoon via the telemetry monitoring system.
“There is therefore no evidence to suggest the foaming was caused by the Works.” A Garrison Lough Melvin Angler’s Association (GLMAA) spokesman said the club is monitoring the situation.
“We are aware of the recent issues raised in a radio interview on Ocean FM with Councillor Warnock,” he stated, adding: “issues around water quality in Lough Melvin are of paramount importance and is a major area of concern for GLMAA.
“Suggestions are that the cause of the issue originates at the water treatment plant in Garrison.

Researchers find new way to deal with water contaminated with fire-fighting foam chemicals.
Australian researchers may have found a solution to help deal with fire-fighting contamination water at Defence bases and other airports around the country.
The chemicals in the foams, per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), are today known as being ubiquitous in the environment and human bodies.
But researchers at the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment have found a way to use electricity to create strong oxidising agents that strip PFAS molecules of electrons, breaking them down into smaller and safer compounds.
It could be part of a solution to wider chemical contamination globally, to treat "almost all organic contaminants", and help remediate some of the 160,000 contaminated sites CRC CARE estimates Australia already has.
Lead researcher, University of Newcastle’s Dr Cheng Fang, said previous "iterations" of the technology needed expensive materials to be effective, but the new substance used more common, and cheaper, lead peroxide, to cut production costs.
Dr Fang said that while authorities had often simply removed PFAS-contaminated material to store elsewhere, it did not solve the problem of ‘what to do with the hazardous chemicals’, which still needed to be properly treated.
CRC CARE managing director Dr Ravi Naidu said the new treatments could be used to treat wastewater or ground water, and there was more research underway to treat contaminated soil – one of the other key issues currently facing authorities around Australia.
Read more about the political lobbying behind the scenes of chemical regulation reforms underway in today’s Canberra Times Forum.
The story Researchers find new way to deal with water contaminated with fire-fighting foam chemicals first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.