{"id":60490,"date":"2019-11-15T21:30:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T21:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/15\/a-new-non-toxic-firefighting-foam-could-be-on-the-way\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:22:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:22:58","slug":"a-new-non-toxic-firefighting-foam-could-be-on-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/11\/15\/a-new-non-toxic-firefighting-foam-could-be-on-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"A new, non-toxic firefighting foam could be on the way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Under pressure from environmental groups<\/a>, the Defense Department is on the hunt for an aqueous film-forming foam \u2015 the kind it uses to put out fires after aircraft crashes and other incidents \u2015 that doesn\u2019t contain potentially cancer-causing chemicals<\/a> that leach into ground water<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon has put about $10 million into the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program since 2011, according to a Friday DoD release, to eventually create a foam that doesn\u2019t contain perfluorooctane sulfonate or perfluorooctanoic acid, collectively known as PFAS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research \u201cencourages us to work across disciplines and outside our own university, even at locations throughout the world, to get the best minds to address this,\u201d Christopher Higgins, a Colorado School of Mines civil and environmental engineering professor said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programs, through funding efforts at the Naval Research Laboratory, universities and private labs, have been looking into PFAS alternatives since the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2009, issued guidance on safe limits for exposure to the compounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military has since stopped using that firefighting foam in training scenarios, and has put in place filtration systems on installations to keep drinking water at EPA-approved levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\t