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MDHHS to hold community drinking water meetings near former Wurtsmith AFB in Oscoda

For Immediate Release: June 8, 2016

LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) will host an open house and public meeting to provide updates about perfluorinated compound (PFC) contamination in drinking water at and near the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base on Tuesday, June 14, 2016.  The meetings will be held at Oscoda Methodist Church at 120 West Dwight Avenue in Oscoda.

The open house will have staff from MDHHS, District Health Department #2, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and the U.S. Air Force available for one-on-one conversations from 2 to 4 p.m. The community meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the same location.

The June 14 meeting will discuss water sampling, actions taken to provide an alternate water source, and the status of the investigation.  The agencies have answered a list of questions received at the March 23 meeting and will provide responses in one document that will be shared at the meeting and posted online.

In December 2015, the U.S. Air Force and MDEQ discovered PFCs in drinking water wells near the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base. Since a March 23, 2016, community meeting, additional private wells have been sampled for PFCs with more sampling to occur. As PFC results from the private wells become available, those results are being provided to the individual well owners along with recommendations.

PFCs are chemicals that are used in fire-fighting foams, non-stick (Teflon) manufacturing, electroplating, and textiles. They are of concern because they stay in the environment for a long time and enter the food chain, which may result in health risks to people.

Studies of people that have been exposed to PFCs have shown that certain PFCs may affect fetuses and children as well as adults.  Possible effects in children include changes in growth, learning, and behavior.  Health effects in adults may include interference with the body’s hormone system, increased cholesterol, and effects on the immune system. 

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