“New Zealand locals are being warned of PFAS contamination on home soil. Defence force have discovered that toxic firefighting foam, used at Ohakea, Woodbourne and Devonport defence force bases, has leached into the soil and groundwater.

Groundwater testing at Ohakea Woodbourne and Devonport defence force bases has shown the presence of these toxic PFAS compounds above New Zealand guidelines. Residents have been provided with bottled water and told not to drinking from any of the affected bores and limit intake of homegrown fruit, eggs, vegetables and home kill meat.

Further testing is being undertaken at Whenuapai air force base in Auckland. This is complicated by the fact that Whenuapai airbase sits on a large aquifer that services more than 500 bores.

PFAS (or Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) is a class of manmade, long-lasting, toxic chemicals that accumulate in the body and environment, and include the now-banned firefighting foam chemicals PFOS and PFOA…

Shine Lawyers’ Tim Gunn says ‘Defence Force have shown that it is willing to withhold valuable information’. This follows revelations that Defence Force has known about contamination since mid-2015 and has not informed local residents, Councils or central Government. Mr Gunn says, ‘this is a dangerous case of the perpetrators also being the gatekeepers to vital information that holds life-altering weight to the community.’

‘The government’s decision not to publish the testing results is in stark contrast to the Australian Defence Force’s approach. It leads one to assume that NZDF are trying to manage and protect their interests and in doing so are failing to protect the community,’ said Mr Gunn

Mr Gunn’s advice to anyone in the affected areas is that they should be pushing for testing of surface water/overland flow, and the general biota. Residents who have received any testing reports should make sure they’re testing for as many of these PFAS chemicals as they can. This means requesting the use of the TOP Assay test which shows the full range of the toxic PFAS chemicals present. The current science is that each of these different compounds are really all just as bad as each other.”

Read the full article by Fuseworks Media