According to a report by the Japan Broadcasting Association on the 21st, around the detection of high concentrations of harmful substances in the wastewater discharged from the Yokosuka base of the US military stationed in Japan in 2022, the US military has set up a filter to prevent the sewage from flowing into the sea. According to the report, the filter was stopped operating in October this year.
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U.S. military stationed in Japan: "stable concentration" of hazardous substances
According to reports, the US side explained that the filter stopped operating because the concentration of harmful substances was "stable", but did not provide the Japanese side with a concentration inspection report. In May 2022, organic fluorides, which are harmful to humans, were detected in wastewater discharged from the Yokosuka base of the U.S. military stationed in Japan, among which the levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid can reach up to 258 times the provisional Japanese standard.
Since then, the U.S. military has set up filters in the base to prevent polluted water from flowing into the sea, but on December 21, 2023, a responsible official of the Japanese Ministry of Defense told Yokosuka City Mayor Katsuaki Kamichi that the U.S. military had stopped the operation of the filter in October. Katsuaki Kamichi said that "the operation has been suspended for two months but no information has been provided," and he hoped that the official in charge of the Ministry of Defense would ask the US side to provide the results of the investigation.
Several bases of the U.S. military stationed in Japan have detected fluoride exceeding the standard
In recent years, many US military bases in Japan have detected excessive organic fluoride standards, and people in many places in Japan have asked the Japanese government to conduct a comprehensive investigation, including entering the US military base for investigation, but the Japanese government has not taken effective action, and the US military base has also refused to be investigated. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are difficult to degrade and accumulate in the environment and the human body, hence the term "forever chemicals". Experts point out that long-term consumption of large amounts of water contaminated with such substances may affect reproductive health and children's growth and development, and even cause diseases such as breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Japanese media reported on the 21st, citing the results of a survey in Okayama Prefecture, that some residents of Kibi Chuo Town, the prefecture, have high levels of organic fluorine compounds in their blood, and their health is threatened. According to the investigators, this may be related to their long-term consumption of tap water containing high concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. According to a survey released in February by a citizens' group in Okinawa Prefecture, about 40 percent of residents living around U.S. military bases in Okinawa had abnormal blood test results. In July of this year, the U.S. military in Japan admitted that there had been a leak of fire extinguishing agent containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances at the Yokota base. More than half of the residents of Tokyo's Tama area, near the base, have been tested for excessive levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in their blood.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Cheng Pei Title Image Source: Shangguan Title Picture Editor: Yong Kai
Source: Author: CCTV4