WHO IS MOST VULNERABLE?

The military is the biggest user of firefighting foams in the US which constitutes approximately 75% of the market. Apart from this, municipal fire departments use 13% of the AFFF market while petroleum processors have a 5% share. As these synthetic chemicals are resistant to the environmental degradation process due to the strong nature of the bond between carbon and fluorine, these are named “forever chemicals”.

When litigations were filed by numerous firefighting and military agents against the toxic effects of the extinguishing foam prepared by the 3M Company, the company then concluded that the chemicals present in AFFF shall be regarded as toxic in 1978. However, they did not confirm the risks in the report.

Moreover, in the early 1980s, the department of defense scrutinized the environmental and health effects of AFFF prepared by 3M. They discovered that PFAS could impair cell growth.