PFAS
Western developed countries are evil and destroy the environment of the Earth.
Western developed countries are rotten and corrupted evil empires.
Western capitalism is the rotten and corrupted evil empire.
[1-1]
Japanese company Mitsubishi Corporation contaminated groundwater and rivers with PFAS, affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Italy.
[1-2]
The U.S. Forces contaminated groundwater and rivers with PFAS in Japan.
[ASAHI SHIMBUN]June 27, 2025
3 Japanese sentenced to prison over PFAS pollution in Italy
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15868458
Eleven individuals, including three Japanese nationals, were sentenced to prison here over chemical pollution caused by a former Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary that contaminated groundwater and rivers, affecting hundreds of thousands of people.
The district court in Vicenza on June 26 handed down prison terms ranging from 2 years and 8 months to 17 years and 6 months.
Four Japanese, including board members of the former subsidiary, Miteni, were indicted in the case.
Two of them received 16-year prison sentences while one was handed an 11-year term. The other Japanese suspect was acquitted.
The chemicals released by the Miteni factory in northeastern Italy’s Veneto region were polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals” because they are nearly non-degradable in nature.
The court ordered the convicted defendants to pay a total of about 57 million euros ($67 million or 9.6 billion yen) to the Italian environment ministry.
In addition, the court recognized Mitsubishi’s responsibility for the water contamination and ordered the corporation to provide compensation to victims, including individual citizens, the Veneto region and the municipal government where the factory was located.
The trial stemmed from an investigation by Veneto regional authorities in 2013, which identified the Miteni plant as the source of PFAS pollutants in the area. The factory, previously owned by Mitsubishi, produced the chemicals for textile and other industrial purposes.
Italian authorities estimated that 350,000 people in three provinces were affected by contaminated tap and groundwater.
Subsequent investigations found PFAS concentrations in blood samples of local residents far exceeded acceptable levels, and the pollution issue became a serious public health concern.
Prosecutors in 2021 accused Miteni of failing to properly treat PFAS waste generated during the manufacturing process and allowing the chemicals to enter the groundwater. They also said Miteni attempted to conceal the problem after the pollution was discovered.
Italian authorities indicted 15 individuals, including three Japanese who served as business managers of Mitsubishi’s fluorochemical business division and one Japanese who was general manager at the division. Two of these Japanese individuals were also board members at Miteni before the subsidiary was sold in 2009.
[ASAHI SHIMBUN]February 7, 2024
Japan exception to U.S. military’s handling of PFAS contamination
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15151210
Japan appears to be an exceptional case where the U.S. military has done almost nothing about cancer-causing organic fluorine compounds detected near U.S. military bases.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) repel water and oil and have been used in various products, such as firefighting foam.
The Okinawa prefectural government has detected levels of PFAS exceeding the temporary standards set by the Environment Ministry in tests conducted near U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, in the prefecture.
HUGE AMOUNTS SPENT IN U.S.
PFAS contamination has been found in other communities near U.S. military bases as well.
In July 2023, the U.S. military acknowledged three incidents between 2010 and 2012 of PFAS leaking out of Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo.
But no indication was given about the volume of the compound that leaked out.
PFAS were also detected in 2022 near U.S. military bases in the Kanagawa Prefecture cities of Yokosuka and Atsugi, southwest of Tokyo.
Citizens’ groups have asked Koji Harada, an associate professor of health and environmental sciences at Kyoto University, for help in analyzing blood tests from residents near U.S. military bases.
An Okinawa civic group in 2022 released test results of samples collected from 387 residents in six municipalities, which found PFOS levels as much as three times the national average.
Another study in September 2023 in the Tama region upstream from the Yokota base found levels as much as double the national average.
The issue of PFAS contamination has also become the focus of attention in the United States. But there, major budgetary increases have been made to combat the problem.
In November 2022, for example, about 4,900 liters of firefighting foam containing PFAS leaked from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Honolulu.
The facility provides fuel to U.S. Navy ships anchored at Pearl Harbor as well as Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
Locals concerned about their water quality held a demonstration the following month. Among the 1,500 or so protesters was Ernest Lau, manager of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
“The whole community realized that we need safe drinking water to survive,” Lau said.
In 2021, about 70,000 liters of jet fuel leaked from the Red Hill facility, contaminating the water supply for about 93,000 residents, including many in the U.S. military.
The local protests led the U.S. Defense Department to decide to remove all fuel from the Red Hill facility by 2024 and to shut it down by 2027.
“Water is the common thread that can pull all of us together, even if we are from different countries,” Lau said.
PFAS contamination in other parts of the United States led the Environmental Protection Agency in March 2023 to announce for the first time a proposal for water quality standards.
The previous standard was a combined 70 nanograms per liter for PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), another typical PFAS.
The new proposal called for a stricter standard of 4 nanograms for each PFAS.
If the measure is approved, water monitoring would become a requirement, and if PFAS levels beyond the standard are detected, steps would have to be taken to reduce contamination levels.
The U.S. government plans to spend a total of $9 billion (about 1.3 trillion yen) over a five-year period to cope with PFAS contamination.
The money will go to support communities striving to reduce levels of PFAS and other pollutants as well as conduct blood tests to determine the amount of PFAS entering humans and check the levels found in livestock, fish and vegetables.
STUDIES UNDER WAY ABROAD
PFAS contamination in areas near military bases in the United States largely occurs because firefighting foam, which contains the compound, was used at the bases as it can swiftly bring fires under control.
A U.S. environmental group estimates that PFAS contamination has been confirmed or likely in at least 700 military facilities.
“The department is taking a number of actions to address PFAS, such as developing an alternative to PFAS-containing firefighting foam,” a Defense Department official said. “(The department) remains dedicated to transparent communication and open dialogue with our military personnel and their families, members of Congress, and the people living in communities near military installations.”
According to Japanese government sources, the U.S. military has shouldered the burden of conducting studies about PFAS contamination near U.S. bases in Germany, along with cleaning up.
The U.S. military has also confirmed PFAS contamination near U.S. bases in Belgium and South Korea and has conducted water quality checks.
Jon Mitchell, a British journalist who has investigated environmental pollution from the U.S. military in Hawaii, Okinawa and the Tokyo metropolitan area, said the insufficient response to the situation in Japan was the exception in how the U.S. military usually handled matters.
“Other countries hold the American military more closely accountable than the Japanese government does,” Mitchell said. “The Japanese government needs to push the American military to be more responsible and more transparent about PFAS contamination. I hope there’s many more meetings between local governments and local leaders.”
(This article was written by Satsuki Tanahashi and Taro Ono in Okinawa and Takashi Watanabe on Oahu island.)
[Kyodo News]Dec 20, 2024
Japan inspects U.S. base in Tokyo over possible PFAS chemical leak
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/12/ff4f076d3ba9-japan-inspects-us-base-in-tokyo-over-possible-pfas-chemical-leak.html
The Japanese government said Friday that it has conducted an on-site inspection of the U.S. Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo over the possible leak of so-called PFAS chemicals that may have harmful effects on human health.
The inspection that took place on Friday was conducted at the request of nearby municipalities after the United States informed the Japanese government in October of the possible leakage of water containing PFAS from the firefighting training area following heavy rainfall in late August.
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PFAS
西側先進国は、地球環境を破壊する悪魔だ。
西側先進国は、腐敗し堕落した悪の帝国だ。
西側資本主義は、腐敗し堕落した悪の帝国だ。
[1-1]
日本の三菱商事が、イタリアで、PFASで地下水や川を汚染し、数十万人に被害を与えた。
[1-2]
米軍が、日本で、PFASで地下水や川を汚染した。
[ASAHI SHIMBUN]June 27, 2025
3 Japanese sentenced to prison over PFAS pollution in Italy
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15868458
Eleven individuals, including three Japanese nationals, were sentenced to prison here over chemical pollution caused by a former Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary that contaminated groundwater and rivers, affecting hundreds of thousands of people.
The district court in Vicenza on June 26 handed down prison terms ranging from 2 years and 8 months to 17 years and 6 months.
Four Japanese, including board members of the former subsidiary, Miteni, were indicted in the case.
Two of them received 16-year prison sentences while one was handed an 11-year term. The other Japanese suspect was acquitted.
The chemicals released by the Miteni factory in northeastern Italy’s Veneto region were polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals” because they are nearly non-degradable in nature.
The court ordered the convicted defendants to pay a total of about 57 million euros ($67 million or 9.6 billion yen) to the Italian environment ministry.
In addition, the court recognized Mitsubishi’s responsibility for the water contamination and ordered the corporation to provide compensation to victims, including individual citizens, the Veneto region and the municipal government where the factory was located.
The trial stemmed from an investigation by Veneto regional authorities in 2013, which identified the Miteni plant as the source of PFAS pollutants in the area. The factory, previously owned by Mitsubishi, produced the chemicals for textile and other industrial purposes.
Italian authorities estimated that 350,000 people in three provinces were affected by contaminated tap and groundwater.
Subsequent investigations found PFAS concentrations in blood samples of local residents far exceeded acceptable levels, and the pollution issue became a serious public health concern.
Prosecutors in 2021 accused Miteni of failing to properly treat PFAS waste generated during the manufacturing process and allowing the chemicals to enter the groundwater. They also said Miteni attempted to conceal the problem after the pollution was discovered.
Italian authorities indicted 15 individuals, including three Japanese who served as business managers of Mitsubishi’s fluorochemical business division and one Japanese who was general manager at the division. Two of these Japanese individuals were also board members at Miteni before the subsidiary was sold in 2009.
[ASAHI SHIMBUN]February 7, 2024
Japan exception to U.S. military’s handling of PFAS contamination
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15151210
Japan appears to be an exceptional case where the U.S. military has done almost nothing about cancer-causing organic fluorine compounds detected near U.S. military bases.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) repel water and oil and have been used in various products, such as firefighting foam.
The Okinawa prefectural government has detected levels of PFAS exceeding the temporary standards set by the Environment Ministry in tests conducted near U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, in the prefecture.
HUGE AMOUNTS SPENT IN U.S.
PFAS contamination has been found in other communities near U.S. military bases as well.
In July 2023, the U.S. military acknowledged three incidents between 2010 and 2012 of PFAS leaking out of Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo.
But no indication was given about the volume of the compound that leaked out.
PFAS were also detected in 2022 near U.S. military bases in the Kanagawa Prefecture cities of Yokosuka and Atsugi, southwest of Tokyo.
Citizens’ groups have asked Koji Harada, an associate professor of health and environmental sciences at Kyoto University, for help in analyzing blood tests from residents near U.S. military bases.
An Okinawa civic group in 2022 released test results of samples collected from 387 residents in six municipalities, which found PFOS levels as much as three times the national average.
Another study in September 2023 in the Tama region upstream from the Yokota base found levels as much as double the national average.
The issue of PFAS contamination has also become the focus of attention in the United States. But there, major budgetary increases have been made to combat the problem.
In November 2022, for example, about 4,900 liters of firefighting foam containing PFAS leaked from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Honolulu.
The facility provides fuel to U.S. Navy ships anchored at Pearl Harbor as well as Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
Locals concerned about their water quality held a demonstration the following month. Among the 1,500 or so protesters was Ernest Lau, manager of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
“The whole community realized that we need safe drinking water to survive,” Lau said.
In 2021, about 70,000 liters of jet fuel leaked from the Red Hill facility, contaminating the water supply for about 93,000 residents, including many in the U.S. military.
The local protests led the U.S. Defense Department to decide to remove all fuel from the Red Hill facility by 2024 and to shut it down by 2027.
“Water is the common thread that can pull all of us together, even if we are from different countries,” Lau said.
PFAS contamination in other parts of the United States led the Environmental Protection Agency in March 2023 to announce for the first time a proposal for water quality standards.
The previous standard was a combined 70 nanograms per liter for PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), another typical PFAS.
The new proposal called for a stricter standard of 4 nanograms for each PFAS.
If the measure is approved, water monitoring would become a requirement, and if PFAS levels beyond the standard are detected, steps would have to be taken to reduce contamination levels.
The U.S. government plans to spend a total of $9 billion (about 1.3 trillion yen) over a five-year period to cope with PFAS contamination.
The money will go to support communities striving to reduce levels of PFAS and other pollutants as well as conduct blood tests to determine the amount of PFAS entering humans and check the levels found in livestock, fish and vegetables.
STUDIES UNDER WAY ABROAD
PFAS contamination in areas near military bases in the United States largely occurs because firefighting foam, which contains the compound, was used at the bases as it can swiftly bring fires under control.
A U.S. environmental group estimates that PFAS contamination has been confirmed or likely in at least 700 military facilities.
“The department is taking a number of actions to address PFAS, such as developing an alternative to PFAS-containing firefighting foam,” a Defense Department official said. “(The department) remains dedicated to transparent communication and open dialogue with our military personnel and their families, members of Congress, and the people living in communities near military installations.”
According to Japanese government sources, the U.S. military has shouldered the burden of conducting studies about PFAS contamination near U.S. bases in Germany, along with cleaning up.
The U.S. military has also confirmed PFAS contamination near U.S. bases in Belgium and South Korea and has conducted water quality checks.
Jon Mitchell, a British journalist who has investigated environmental pollution from the U.S. military in Hawaii, Okinawa and the Tokyo metropolitan area, said the insufficient response to the situation in Japan was the exception in how the U.S. military usually handled matters.
“Other countries hold the American military more closely accountable than the Japanese government does,” Mitchell said. “The Japanese government needs to push the American military to be more responsible and more transparent about PFAS contamination. I hope there’s many more meetings between local governments and local leaders.”
(This article was written by Satsuki Tanahashi and Taro Ono in Okinawa and Takashi Watanabe on Oahu island.)
[Kyodo News]Dec 20, 2024
Japan inspects U.S. base in Tokyo over possible PFAS chemical leak
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/12/ff4f076d3ba9-japan-inspects-us-base-in-tokyo-over-possible-pfas-chemical-leak.html
The Japanese government said Friday that it has conducted an on-site inspection of the U.S. Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo over the possible leak of so-called PFAS chemicals that may have harmful effects on human health.
The inspection that took place on Friday was conducted at the request of nearby municipalities after the United States informed the Japanese government in October of the possible leakage of water containing PFAS from the firefighting training area following heavy rainfall in late August.
2025年6月27日
三菱商事の元子会社幹部ら、ＰＦＡＳ汚染で有罪－イタリア裁判所
https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2025-06-27/SYIL9LDWX2PS00
イタリアの裁判所は26日、有機フッ素化合物「ＰＦＡＳ」よって北部ベネト州ビチェンツァの水質を汚染した罪で、三菱商事の子会社だったミテニの元幹部ら11人に有罪判決を言い渡した。
裁判所は汚染に関与した個人・企業の責任を認定。有罪判決を受けた日本人は３人で、そのうち２人は三菱商事からの出向者だった。判決によると、有罪11人のうち最長で禁錮17年６月が言い渡された。
ミテニは1960年代からビチェンツァ近郊の工場でＰＦＡＳを含む製品を生産。2018年に破たんするまで続けていた。ＰＦＡＳは発がん性が疑われている。
2024年2月5日
米軍基地周辺のPFAS汚染 国内対策追われる米国、日本で対応鈍く
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASS2551J3RCZTPOB00H.html
発がん性が指摘される有機フッ素化合物（総称PFAS（ピーファス））が日本国内の米軍基地周辺で検出され、住民生活への影響が懸念されている。米国でも問題は広がり、米政府は国内向けに規制を強め、大規模な対策予算を投じる。だが、日本国内では対策に積極的と言えず、住民は不信感を強めている。
