🧵 ☣️ T O X I N S & D I S E A S E

What Guam & South Patrick Shores, Florida Reveal About...

TOXIC MILITARY WASTE & HUMAN SUFFERING WORLDWIDE

👇 1/20☣️GUAM: A Congressional bombshell

In 2000, Guam’s Delegate Robert Underwood testified before United States Congress with a chilling admission.

During World War II, mustard gas and other chemical weapons were transported to Guam. There is NO documentation proving they were ever fully removed.

No confirmed cleanup. No verified disposal records. No closure.

The contamination was not hypothetical. It was acknowledged on the Congressional record.

📄 Congressional Record (Official Source): govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CR…

This is not history. This is a template. And Guam was not the only place. **

👇 2/20 ☣️ The record says it plainly

The words are not interpreted. They are quoted.

🔥 “Chemical weapons testing kits containing measurable amounts of mustard gas…”

🔥 “I have requested the Department of Defense to perform a historical record survey…”

🔥 “…final disposition of chemical weaponry that was brought to Guam.”

These statements appear in official testimony before the United States Congress.

This is not rumor. Not speculation. Not fringe reporting.

It is a sitting U.S. delegate formally stating that chemical weapons were present and that their final fate was unknown. When the United States Department of Defense is asked to search its own records decades later, that alone tells you something went missing.

📄 Congressional Record (verbatim source): govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CR…

If the paper trail is incomplete, the exposure is not. **

👇 3/20 ☣️ Physical discovery confirmed

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that WWII-era chemical testing kits containing diluted mustard agent were found on private property in Guam in 1999, triggering an EPA emergency removal.

👉 These weapons were physically present.

📄 GAO report: gao.gov/assets/gao-02-… **

👇 4/20 ☣️ Contamination is ongoing

The Air Force continues to face legal and environmental challenges related to hazardous military waste and open detonation activities near Tarague Beach, with Guam EPA and U.S. EPA raising concerns as recently as 2024.

📄 Earthjustice: earthjustice.org/press/2024/u-s… **

👇 5/20 ☣️ Guam is heavily contaminated

A 2024 human-rights filing documents 90 toxic and nuclear contamination sites on Guam, many unremediated, linked to decades of U.S. military activity.

📄 Post Guam report: bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/postguam.com/c… **

👇 6/20 ☣️ The “Mysterious Guam Disease”

Guam still reports cases of ALS-PDC (lytico-bodig), often called the “mysterious Guam disease.” It never disappeared, even though rates declined from their mid-20th-century peak.

Yet despite decades of research pointing to environmental exposure, it’s still framed as “mysterious.”

📌 NIH/NINDS ALS overview (environment risk): ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-… 📌 Neurology review on Guam ALS-PDC persistence: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12771241/ **

👇 7/20 ☣️ Why it isn’t a mystery

Research consistently points to toxic exposure, not genetics alone.

• Environmental neurotoxins (including BMAA) are implicated • ALS-PDC is multifactorial, not idiopathic • Military contamination on Guam is documented

📄 PNAS (BMAA hypothesis): pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

📄 Neurotoxicology review: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

When contamination is documented and exposure pathways exist, there is no mystery... ...only accountability delayed. **

👇 8/20 ☣️ Why it wasn’t “the bats”

Flying fox (bat) consumption and BMAA were proposed as one contributing factor... ...but bats and cycads existed for centuries.

The ALS-PDC spike followed WWII military buildup, not a sudden dietary change. The bat hypothesis does not explain timing, geography, or magnitude... ...and it does not negate documented chemical exposure.

📄 Review: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22990668/ **

👇 9/20 ☣️ Guam isn’t alone

Across the U.S. military footprint, bases nationwide show legacy contamination from PFAS, solvents, fuels, and munitions... ...many still not fully cleaned up.

📊 PFAS military contamination map: ewg.org/interactive-ma… **

👇 10/20 ☣️ Patrick Space Force Base, Florida

Patrick has been under scrutiny for PFAS contamination from decades of firefighting foam use.

🧪 Groundwater testing found extremely elevated PFAS levels, far exceeding health advisory limits.

📄 Patrick PFAS site inspection: patrick.spaceforce.mil/Portals/14/doc… **

👇 11/20 ☣️ Community impact followed

Satellite Beach residents documented PFOA & PFOS in groundwater, and Erin Brockovich publicly addressed cancer concerns near Patrick Space Force Base.

📄 Spectrum News: mynews13.com/fl/orlando/new… **

👇 12/20 ☣️ South Patrick Shores: built over dumps

Investigations show:

⚠️ 30+ WWII-era military waste sites ⚠️ Landfills existed before civilian housing ⚠️ Residents later reported cancers and neurological illness

📄 Florida DOH / ATSDR: floridahealth.gov/environmental-… **

👇 13/20 ☣️ Government knew early

As early as 1991, CDC/ATSDR reports documented citizen complaints of cancer, ALS, psychiatric illness, and DDT exposure fears tied to former military activity.

📄 ATSDR report: floridahealth.gov/environmental-… **

👇 14/20 ☣️ The pattern is consistent

Guam & South Patrick Shores share the same markers:

⚠️ WWII-era military contamination ⚠️ Legacy toxic disposal sites ⚠️ Disease clusters (cancer, ALS, neurological illness) ⚠️ Government acknowledgment without full remediation

These aren’t coincidences. They are documented patterns.

📄 Guam chemical weapons testimony: govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CR…

📄 South Patrick Shores health assessment (ATSDR): floridahealth.gov/environmental-…

📊 PFAS contamination at military sites nationwide: ewg.org/interactive-ma… **

👇 15/20 ☣️ This fits a global trend

Public-health agencies report rising reported prevalence of neurodevelopmental conditions (like autism) and continuing global burden of neurodegenerative disease... ...with growing evidence that environmental and toxic exposures can influence risk.

📌 CDC autism data and trends (current prevalence + trend notes): cdc.gov/autism/data-re…

📌 CDC report PDF (mentions prevalence changes over time, incl. 1 in 36 in 2020): cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…

📌 ATSDR (CDC) PFAS health effects. “How PFAS impacts your health”: atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/about/hea… **

👇 16/20 ☣️ The human cost

Families weren’t warned. They weren’t monitored. They weren’t protected.

Many never knew they were exposed, through drinking water, soil, or air, until serious illness appeared. This is a documented pattern at contaminated sites: exposure is often discovered after diagnosis, not before.

📄 CDC/ATSDR: About Community Exposure (how people are exposed via air, soil, water): atsdr.cdc.gov/community/

📄 EPA: Search Superfund sites “Where You Live” (shows contaminated sites near communities): epa.gov/superfund/sear… **

👇 17/20 ☣️ Pretending this didn’t happen is no longer acceptable

Chemical weapons storage. Untracked disposal. Decades of contamination. Rising disease.

These are documented facts, confirmed across multiple U.S. government agencies, not allegations.

📄 Congressional testimony: chemical weapons on Guam (PDF) 🔗 govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CR…

📄 GAO: Military environmental cleanup failures (PDF) 🔗 gao.gov/assets/gao-21-…

📄 CDC / ATSDR: Toxic exposure & long-term health effects 🔗 atsdr.cdc.gov/what-to-know/i…

When chemical storage is admitted, when disposal is undocumented, and when contamination persists for decades, denial is not ignorance, it’s policy failure.

Transparency and accountability are overdue. **

👇 18/20 ☣️ What accountability actually looks like

✔️ Full disclosure of historical contamination ✔️ Independent epidemiological studies ✔️ Transparent cleanup timelines ✔️ Long-term medical monitoring for affected communities

These are not radical demands. They are established public-health standards when communities are exposed to hazardous waste. 📄 GAO — DoD environmental cleanup accountability (PDF) The Government Accountability Office documents delays, incomplete cleanup, and lack of transparency across military sites nationwide. 🔗 gao.gov/assets/gao-21-…

📄 EPA — Superfund process & community protections Official EPA overview explaining how contaminated communities should be assessed, monitored, and remediated. 🔗 epa.gov/superfund/supe…

📄 CDC — Environmental exposure & public health response (STABLE PAGE) High-level CDC overview on how environmental exposures are addressed in public health practice. 🔗 cdc.gov/environmental-…

When contamination is known, monitoring delayed, and cleanup stalled, the harm isn’t accidental, it’s administrative.

Accountability means action, not acknowledgment. **

👇 19/20 ☣️ This affects real people

U.S. citizens. Veterans. Service members. Children.

Legacy contamination is not history. It is lived reality for families still residing near former and active military sites, often without warning, monitoring, or protection.

Across the United States, millions live near contaminated locations linked to military and industrial activity. 🗺️ EPA Superfund map, see contaminated sites near you: epa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappvie… **

👇 20/20 ☣️ FINAL — This is the truth they don’t want connected

Guam was not an anomaly.

South Patrick Shores was not an accident. PFAS, dioxins, solvents, chemical weapons, and untracked waste were policy decisions, not mysteries.

Disease clusters don’t appear in isolation. ALS doesn’t spike without exposure.

Cancer doesn’t cluster without cause.

Neurodevelopmental disorders don’t explode without environmental insult.

When the same patterns repeat across islands, bases, states, and decades, it is no longer coincidence... ...it is systemic contamination.

The record exists. The bodies exist. The science exists.

What’s missing is transparency.

We cannot pretend this didn’t happen. We cannot keep calling it “mysterious.” And we cannot accept silence while communities are still living on poisoned ground.

This isn’t history. It’s ongoing. And accountability is overdue.

🧵 End thread. **

@threadreaderapp unroll **

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh