Communities Exposed to Water Laced With Toxins for Three Years Before Being Warned (Australia)

THE Department of Defence has admitted to a three-year delay in warning the public a toxic firefighting foam had contaminated their drinking water.


FAMILIES living near several Australian Army bases unknowingly exposed themselves to potentially cancer-causing chemicals for years after it leaked into the local water supply and the Department of Defence kept the public in the dark, an investigation has revealed.

At the centre of the scandal is the foam containing the chemicals PFOS and PFOA, both of which have been linked to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension and medically diagnosed high cholesterol in humans.

Last December, there were warnings of at least six places in Australia where the foam had been used and it was unsafe to drink the water.


[link to www.news.com.au]