The Air Force deliberately misled the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Congress, and the American people about the toxic substances present at George AFB, CA. They failed to disclose the Completed Exposure Pathways (CEPs) and potential health threat to base personnel and their family members, including children and pregnant women (developing fetuses); civilian employees; and the surrounding community.
The ATSDR relied on the Air Force to supply it with the relevant documents and information for the Health Assessment for George AFB. Because the Air Force did NOT provide all of the relevant documents and information to the ATSDR, it came to a flawed conclusion. This is because the ATSDR did not fully understand the nature and extent of the contamination; locations of the Installation Restoration Program (IRP) sites; hydrology (direction of the groundwater flow, north-east); and the location of the water supply wells for George AFB, Adelanto, private homes, and the former Victor Valley Country Club
The Air Force knew that the ATSDR came to a flawed conclusion in their 1 December 1998 report “Public Health Assessment for George AFB.” The Air Force failed to correct the ATSDR during the Peer Review and Public Comments period and failed to notify the ATSDR after new information became available (emerging contaminants of concern), the Air Force lied by omission.
I am requesting that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) conduct a new Public Health Assessment for the former George Air Force Base, CA, “EPA Superfund ID: CA2570024453.”
From the ATSDR’s Public Health Assessment for George AFB, dated December 1, 1998, Pages 28 – 29:
On the basis of available data, ATSDR concludes that exposure to contaminants in groundwater and soil at George AFB does not pose an apparent public health hazard.
Page 27“On-site and off-site groundwater do not represent a past, present, or future public health hazard. …
Page 27Soil at George AFB does not represent an apparent past public health hazard and does not represent a present or future public health hazard. …
Page 28Radiological contamination does not represent an apparent past public health hazard and does not represent a present or future public health hazard. …
Page 28… ATSDR concludes that the George AFB site should be assigned to the No Apparent Public Health Hazard category.”
Page 29
Source:
- Public Health Assessment for George AFB
- Table 1: Evaluation of Potential Public Health Hazards at George Air Force Base
- Table 2: Exposure Pathways at George Air Force Base
- REFERENCES
- APPENDIX D: Public Comments on the Public Health Assessment
George AFB’s Asbestos Contamination
If you worked, lived, or went to school in a building built before 1980, on George AFB, you were probably exposed to unsafe levels of asbestos. “There are 1,970 buildings on-base (including 1,641 housing units) with a total square footage of floor space of 4,629,926, approximately 10 percent of which has been surveyed for asbestos. Forty percent of those facilities tested had asbestos containing [Read More…]
George AFB’s Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing Decontamination Centers
If you worked or lived next to the west side of George AFB, worked at an engine test cell or the weapons test bunker, you were probably exposed to unsafe levels of fission byproducts (radioactive dust) from the decontamination of aircraft and equipment used in the nuclear bomb test at Nevada Test Site (NTS). Aircraft from George AFB participated in the US Atmospheric Nuclear [Read More…]
George AFB’s Organochlorine Pesticides Contamination
If you worked, lived, or went to school in a building built before the late 1980s, on George AFB, you were probably exposed to unsafe levels of chlordane and other organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). These OCPs are classified as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), are toxic chemicals that adversely affect human health and the environment, and the DOD banned their use in the late 1980’s. [Read More…]
George AFB’s Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) – PFAS
The Air Forced just released the test results for PFAS at private and municipal supply wells near the southeast corner of George AFB, where the production wells for George AFB were located. ALL of the wells that were tested had detectable levels of PFAS, and one well exceeded the US EPA health advisory (HA) level of 70 ppt. These results are significant because, [Read More…]
George AFB’s Public Health Assessment (PHA)
The Air Force deliberately misled the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Congress, and the American people about the toxic substances present at George AFB, CA. They failed to disclose the Completed Exposure Pathways (CEPs) and potential health threat to base personnel and their family members, including children and pregnant women (developing fetuses); civilian employees; and the surrounding community. The ATSDR relied on the [Read More…]
George AFB’s West Winds Golf Course
If you played (as a child), lived next to, played golf, or worked at the West Winds Golf Course from 1965 to 1981, you were most likely exposed to unsafe levels of partially treated sewage and industrial waste containing known carcinogens. Before 1965, George AFB discharged its industrial waste into the Mojave River. On November 17, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive [Read More…]
George AFB’s Burn Pits and Incinerators
If you worked, lived, or went to school on George AFB you were probably exposed to unsafe levels known carcinogens and respiratory sensitizers. George AFB had over a dozen unlined open-air burn pits and two old style incinerators (without an air scrubber to remove toxic chemicals). Known carcinogens and respiratory sensitizers were released into the atmosphere and pose both acute and chronic health hazards to civilians, [Read More…]
George AFB’s Family Housing
If you lived in George AFB’s Family Housing, built before 1988, you were probably exposed to unsafe levels of chlordane and other organochlorine pesticides (“OCPs”). The Air Force knew that the housing and soil under/around the base housing were contaminated with unsafe levels of OCPs that could present a risk to human health. Additionally, the Air Force knew that there was NO safe [Read More…]
George AFB’s Lead Based Paint Contamination
If you were a child that lived or went to daycare/school on George AFB, before 1978, you were probably exposed to unsafe levels of lead-based paint (LBP). The buildings constructed before 1978, when the DOD banned the use of LBP, are likely to contain one or more coats of LBP. In addition, some facilities constructed immediately after the ban may also contain LBP, [Read More…]
Please contact Sven E. Rodenbeck and ask that the ATSDR conduct a New Public Health Assessment for George AFB.
Lying by omission:
Definition: “A lie of omission also known as a continuing misrepresentation, a lie by omission occurs when an important fact is left out in order to foster a misconception. Lying by omission includes failures to correct pre-existing misconceptions”
Completed exposure pathway:
A pathway of exposure is considered completed when all five elements are present. A completed pathway connects the source of the material to people.
- Source
- Media
- Exposure point
- Exposure route
- People
Will exposure from a completed pathway affect my health?
Whether or not a person experiences health effects from exposure to materials in the environment depends on a combination of several site-specific factors including:
- Kind of material released;
- Amount of material available at the exposure point;
- The physical and chemical form of the material;
- Environmental conditions;
- Length of exposure time.
Source: EPA
Is this something for us to participate in, or is this something you did or doing now?
If you or a loved one was injured or died from a toxic exposure at GAFB, please write a letter requesting a NEW Public Health Assessment for GAFB.
Look for a chemical/toxin with a completed exposure pathways (CEPs) that would have caused the illness include 1 or 2 pages of medical records and/or a Death Certificate.
Include a section from the old Public Health Assessment for GAFB that applies
George AFB’s Public Health Assessment (PHA)
Send the request to:
Sven E. Rodenbeck, Sc.D., P.E., BCEE
Rear Admiral (retired), USPHS
ATSDR/DCHI – Mailstop F59
1600 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30333
Office Telephone: (770) 488-3660
Cell Telephone: (404) 729-5041
FAX: (770) 488-1543
Email: [email protected]
cc: Libby Vianu
Regional Representative
ATSDR Region IX
75 Hawthorne Street
Suite 100, HHS-100
San Francisco, CA 94105
Office Phone (415) 947-4319
Cell Phone (415) 203-2238
Email: [email protected]
AND your Congressional Representative and Senators
Find Your Representative
Find Your Senators
What about PCBs that the base had?
The AF has released very little information about the PCBs at GAFB.
If you have any information about PCBs at GAFB please submit it. http://www.georgeafb.info/contact/