PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire — Former and active duty personnel that served at Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire over the last four decades will be the focus of an occupational health study.
The study comes after months of lobbying by a group of widows of service members who served with the Air Force and the 157th Refueling Wing of the Air National Guard.
Dozens of personnel have died from organ related cancers and other health problems.
The Pease Widows believe the deaths are a result of years of exposure to toxic chemicals and PFAS contaminants in the drinking water. The so-called 'forever chemical's which never break down, were in fire fighting foam used for decades during training exercises on the base.
Doris Brock, the widow of Kendall Brock, who served with the Air National Guard Member died in 2017 from bladder and prostate cancer.
Brock led the fight to get a study after being contacted by family members of former service members throughout New England and the US, many suffering from organ related cancers or who had passed away from cancer.
"I am hoping what will come out of this is that the study will prove that there are significant number of incidents of cancer and other illnesses and try to figure out what caused them," Brock said.
Colonel John Pogorek, the Commander of the 157th Air Refueling Wing at Pease called the study a "defining step towards addressing the health concerns of men and women who have worked on Pease Air Force Base and Pease National Air Guard Base."
The probe will focus on records of service members assigned to Pease between January of 1970 to December of 2018. The study will be conducted by the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine's Epidemiology Consult Service to determine if there is a higher incidence of cancer for those were assigned to Pease during that time frame.
There will be an informational session about the study at the Loy Auditorium on Pease at 3 p.m. on January 29.
The event is open to valid military ID holders, military dependents and retirees.