The U.S. Air Force has found cancer-causing chemicals at two missile launch facilities in Montana. Cancer diagnoses in service members who worked at Malmstrom Air Force Base were revealed earlier this year.
A military briefing, obtained by The Associated Press in January, showed at least nine current or former missileers at Malmstrom were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare blood cancer. On Monday, the Air Force said the first results of extensive sampling found unsafe levels of a chemical considered a “likely carcinogen” by the EPA.
Hundreds of nuclear launch facilities were installed across central Montana in the 1960’s. An Air Force medical team found unsafe levels of the chemical, called PCB, at two locations while sampling in June. Use of the chemical was discontinued in 1979.
Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, said he was deeply alarmed by the findings in a letter to the Department of Defense Tuesday, and called for a detailed schedule of planned activities related to the cleanup and continued study of cancer rates among missile wing servicemembers.
Gen. Thomas Bussiere, who leads the Air Force Global Strike Command, said in a statement he’d ordered immediate cleanup of the chemicals and would be holding town halls with medical experts in affected communities. The Command did not yet offer dates for the town halls.
