The Air Force has spent more than two years studying cancer risks to Airmen who work with the service's intercontinental ballistic missiles. Now lawmakers in Congress are placing fresh scrutiny on the issue and have prepared legislation that would direct the service to clean silos ...
Missile Community Cancer Study
Congressional lawmakers are pushing for more insight into the disproportionate rate of cancer diagnoses among military aviators as attention to the problem mounts in Washington and beyond.
The Air Force has not found a higher death rate from cancer among missileers and other service members who served decades ago near America’s nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, service officials said Jan. 30.
Based on an updated and expanded data set, the Air Force now says the preliminary statistics show no significant difference in cancer rates between Airmen who worked on nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles and the rest of the Air Force or the general population.
The latest round of environmental sampling for the Air Force’s Missile Community Cancer Study found trace amounts of potentially harmful chemicals called volatile organic compounds in the service’s ICBM facilities, but not at levels that would pose a health hazard, Air Force Global Strike Command ...
Air Force Global Strike Command’s sweeping study of cancer cases in the intercontinental ballistic missile community will expand this summer to include environmental samples from the launch facilities themselves, one of several next steps officials detailed during a virtual town hall June 5.
Certain harmful chemicals were likely present at decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missile bases, the Air Force said in a memorandum published May 20. The Air Force has found evidence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)—which are possible carcinogens, at active Minuteman III ICBM bases as part of its ...
The Air Force general who oversees the nation’s land-based nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile fleet said he is strongly committed to an ongoing study of cancer cases among crews who worked around ICBMs. “I'm the commander of this mission, and if I don't care, who does?” ...
The Air Force found no significant evidence of harmful chemicals at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., as part of its ongoing Missile Community Cancer Study, the service said on April 22. Samples collected in February found “no instances of contamination above regulatory action level.” The sampling ...
The Air Force found increased rates of breast and prostate cancers in service members who worked on nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles compared to the general population, according to a preliminary study of data publicly released on March 13. “What we don’t know is whether these ...
The Air Force has found residue of a harmful and possibly carcinogenic substance at intercontinental ballistic missile facilities at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., it announced Aug. 24. According to service officials, military bioenvironmental experts found elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in an underground ...
Air Force experts found trace amounts of hazardous chemicals at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., but even though the hazards fell within an acceptable threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency, Air Force Global Strike Command ordered a complete cleanup, the command announced Aug. ...
