Test results from a survey of Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota found elevated levels of PCBs — chemical compounds that likely cause cancer — at the nuclear missile installation, according to the Air Force.
Minot was the last site surveyed by the Air Force as part of its probe into health and cancer concerns among America’s missileers at three installations in the continental U.S. A previous survey also found elevated levels of PCBs at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.
The surveys came after a Space Force officer raised alarm earlier this year about cases where missileers who had been stationed at Malmstrom during their careers were diagnosed with cancer, prompting the Air Force to undergo a new study investigating a potential connection at all of America’s intercontinental ballistic missile bases.
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The U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and the Defense Centers for Public Health collected air and swipe samples from launch control centers and launch control equipment buildings at all three ICBM bases — Minot, Malmstrom and F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, which was not found to have elevated levels of PCBs.
Findings released Thursday from Minot Air Force Base showed that of the 300 surface swipe samples taken, 30 found detectable levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, banned chemical compounds commonly known…
