The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans Community Information Session October 24 on Upcoming Pease Study: PFAS Health Effects.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire -- At a press conference on October 11th US Senator Jeanne Shaheen announced the creation of a national Health Study, proposed by her legislation, of people exposed to human-made chemicals per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). A Pilot Study will focus on PFAS exposure to these chemicals at the former Pease Air Force base. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR) is continuing research into the PFAS exposure at the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth by conducting a multi-site national health study of children and adults to help provide more information about potential health risks connected with PFAS chemical exposure. PFAS containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) may have gotten into public and private wells during firefighting and firefighting training on the former Pease Air Force Base. When the City of Portsmouth learned of PFAS water contamination, it closed the most contaminated well supplying the Pease Tradeport drinking water system in May 2014. That well has been off-line ever since and the City, together through agreements with the Air Force, is moving forward with the construction of a water treatment system to treat the well.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will hold a community information session on October 24, (5:30-8 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Portsmouth) to discuss the upcoming Pease Study: PFAS Health Effects. The meeting provides community members with the opportunity to ask questions and better understand the study, as well as find out if they are eligible to participate and sign up.

For the Pease Study, CDC/ATSDR is recruiting adults aged 18 and older, and children aged 4 through 17, who were exposed to PFAS-contaminated drinking water at Pease International Tradeport between 2004 and May 2014 to provide blood and urine samples, as well as their medical histories. Study participants will receive individual test results that can be shared with healthcare providers.

For more information about the meeting, click here:

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/docs/Pease-Flyer-Community-Meeting-508.pdf

DPW has posted information about the community meeting on the City website, included it in the weekly City e-Newsletter, provided social media links to more information on the meeting and the Pease Health Study and issued a press release on the meeting. The CDC/ATSDR Fact Sheet on the Pease Study is posted on the City website here: https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/sites/default/files/2019-10/1-PEASE%20Community%20Factsheet_FINALOct7_0.pdf

For detailed information about the City’s PFAS testing and monitoring, including the most recent report on the Pease Tradeport’s water supply, visit: https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/publicworks/water/pease-tradeport-water-system