Forever chemicals reach extraordinary levels in wildlife at Holloman Air Force Base
February 21, 2024
A team of researchers from The University of New Mexico’s Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) reported unexpectedly high levels of chemical contamination in wild birds and mammals at Holloman Air Force Base, near Alamogordo, N.M. in new research published in Environmental Research.
The research found that animals were heavily contaminated with several harmful compounds known as ‘forever chemicals,’ or per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Even low concentrations of PFAS are known to cause cancer and developmental, reproductive, immune system, and endocrine problems in animals and people.
Although PFAS have been found in various wildlife worldwide, the new findings are unprecedented for exceptionally high concentrations across numerous species. Across 23 species of birds and mammals, PFAS concentrations averaged in the tens of thousands of parts per billion. To put this in perspective, the research team pointed out that thousands of dairy cattle in Clovis, N.M., recently had to be destroyed because their milk was contaminated at less than six parts per billion.
The study focused on the area around Holloman Lake, situated between Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands National Park, in the middle of the vast, dry Tularosa basin. The lake is part of a system of waste-water catchment ponds that the Air Force created.
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