Water contamination DHHS to release Pease blood test results Second round being mailed this week

PORTSMOUTH – The state Department of Health and Human Services said it will begin sending out blood test results this week for people exposed to contaminated city-owned water at the former Pease Air Force Base.

State officials in their weekly update said they received 460 test results back from labs at the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and AXYS Analytical Services.

“As with the first round of testing, preparing and mailing individual reports will take up to two weeks, depending on the volume of test results received,” DHHS officials said in their weekly update.

The city closed the Haven well in May 2014 after the Air Force found levels of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) 12.5 times higher than the EPA’s Provisional Health Advisory (PHA). The EPA classified PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, which was also found in Haven well at Pease International Tradeport, but below health advisory levels, as “contaminants of emerging concern.” PFOS and PFOA are a class of chemicals known as perfluorochemicals. PFCs were also found in the city-owned Smith and Harrison wells at the tradeport but never above the PHA.

The first round of blood tests on adults and some children showed PFC levels substantially higher than the national average. State Epidemiologist Benjamin Chan acknowledged exposure to PFCs can potentially cause immune system problems, hormone dysfunction and certain cancers, but stressed there is no conclusive link between exposure and adverse health effects.

The city’s wells are on the former Air Force base, which is now a Superfund clean-up site. State and federal officials believe the contaminants came from firefighting foam used at the base. The tradeport has more than 9,000 employees and two day cares.

Roughly 1,100 people had their blood tested or their children’s blood tested in the second round of testing that ran from mid-August to mid-October.

DHHS officials said they plan to mail all blood test results from the CDC in February, but the AXYS results won’t be mailed out until the end of March. The last batch of test results from a California lab the state contracted with won’t be mailed out until April, according to the state update.