投稿者: waterS

Message to SAFE gathering, 20 September, 2022, at EPA Headquarters, Washington DC.

Greetings from chemically saturated Okinawa.

Please know that our Islands, once blessed with clean water from rivers, springs and wells, is now cursed with ground water, river water and tap water polluted with toxic chemicals, notably PFAS.  Most of this pollution comes from the US military bases. From time to time we see great blobs of PFAS firefighting foam from the bases wafting through towns and villages.

The Japanese Government has established no standard for PFAS, and therefore feels no obligation to do soil or water testing.  Recently a citizen’s group raised the money to do a test themselves of the soil in the playing field of an elementary school just outside Futenma Marine Air Base.  The test showed PFOS in an amount 29 times greater than the standard set by America’s EPA.

But as the Japanese Government doesn’t recognize that standard, they still see no reason to warn local citizens of the danger.  No doubt similar pollution levels exist inside the bases, endangering GIs and their families.

We hope this SAFE gathering will help make the world aware of this danger.

Our demand to the Japanese and US governments (military): Detoxify Okinawa Now!

In Solidarity!

The Association to Protect Citizens’ Lives from PFAS Contamination