‘Forever Chemicals May Pose A Bigger Risk To Our Health Than Scientists Thought

For decades, chemicals that have made life easier—your eggs come right out of the pot, stains don't stick to the couch, rain washes off jackets and boots—have been hailed as game-changers in our busy schedules. The hopeful slogan of modern life, "The best for a better life...in chemistry" was coined by DuPont, who invented the widely used Teflon chemical coating.

But this improvement in quality of life requires more and more attention. Commonly known as chemicals, these chemicals have been shown to have long-term effects on human health due to their ability to persist in the environment. A growing body of research is linking the short chemical group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFASs, to everything from healthy blood lipid levels to pregnancy complications and cancer.

Concerns about the health effects of these chemicals have recently prompted action from public health officials and regulators across the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lowered recommended safe levels of the chemical in drinking water in June, warning that PFAS poses a greater health risk than previously thought.

"The updated warning levels are based on new scientific data, with more than 400 recent studies indicating that harmful health effects may occur at very low levels, much lower than previously thought," Radhika Fox said. . The third PFAS National Conference was held in June in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Shortly thereafter, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published the first clinical guidelines for determining levels of PFAS that may pose a risk to human health. The 300-page report urges doctors to routinely screen people with high chemical exposures and provide information on ways to limit exposure; For example, installing special filters known to reduce PFAS levels in drinking water.

According to one measure, New York City researchers found that in the United States alone, exposure to PFAS will reduce health care costs and productivity by at least $5.5 billion per year. University July 26 Impact and Health . These conditions include low birth weight, childhood obesity, hypothyroidism in women, and kidney and testicular cancer.

"We only looked at two of the more than 9,000 chemicals in the PFAS family, so we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg," said Leonardo Trasande, MD, a pediatrician and environmental health expert at NYU Langone Health.

Chemicals that are everywhere

Firefighters are among the most vulnerable: PFAS make protective equipment more resistant than water and the chemicals are found in commonly used firefighting foam. However, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people have measurable levels of PFAS in their bodies. Exposure usually occurs from PFAS-contaminated drinking water or by eating food grown on soil from fertilizer produced from chemically contaminated sewage (SN: 11/24/18, page 18 ). Approximately 2,854 sites in the United States are contaminated with PFAS.

“People and communities are widely exposed to these chemicals. Ned Calong, an epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health, said if they know they're in a high-impact environment, they should seek testing from a regular source of care. Health at Aurora, who led the study and chaired the committee. The National Academy's reporting committee found "sufficient evidence" to link PFAS to four conditions, linking PFAS exposure to a slightly different list from the New York University team: low antibody response to vaccines, abnormally high cholesterol, childhood disorders, and miscarriage. Development, growth and kidney cancer. The tests were "suggestive" of breast and testicular cancer as well as thyroid problems and ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease.

The report calls for more research on the health effects of PFAS, citing gaps in everything from neurological problems to bone density. These chemicals have a wide range of effects on different body systems, says Kalong. And they are "everywhere around".

New, not reliable

PFAS has been produced in the United States since the 1940s. The chemicals are useful in a variety of products, including carpets, fabrics, food packaging, and yarn, because they can repel oil and water, resist heat, and reduce friction. . However, relatively few of the approximately 9,000 of these synthetic chemicals have been studied for their toxic effects.

Many PFASs are now known as endocrine disruptors, chemical compounds that disrupt the normal function of the endocrine or hormonal system. But PFAS also has other effects that increase the risk of cancer, such as weakening the immune system, cell growth, and gene activity. Researchers in 2010 In 2021, they reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that kidney cancer more than doubled between people with high and low blood levels of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA.

The new generation of PFAS is considered safer because the chemicals are less likely to accumulate in the body. But these new compounds are structurally similar to the old ones and can be just as harmful to your health as their cousins, says Trasned. These new molecules are "highly associated with diseases such as gestational diabetes." We're starting to see potentially bigger issues in the game."

The new EPA recommendations target both old and new PFAS for drinking water. It targets two of the oldest and most abundant PFAS in the environment: PFOA and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS. The recommendation lowers drinking water contaminant levels from below 70 parts per trillion to between 0.004 and 0.02 ppt, where no adverse health effects are expected. These levels are based on their normal exposure in life.

The EPA health advisory also issued initial recommendations for two new types of PFAS: hexafluoropropylene oxide ammonium salt dimeric acid HFPO, commonly known as GenX chemicals, and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid, or PFBS. The agency has set standards for drinking water at 10 ppt for GenX chemicals and 2000 ppt for PFBS. These new chemicals have similar persistence in the environment, the agency said.

Consumers can ask their local water supplier for PFAS testing information. Testing is becoming more common and vendors must be able to disclose the PFAS they are testing for. Private wells can become contaminated with PFAS if they are near a manufacturer that makes or uses the chemical, and at airports where PFAS is used for fire protection, fire training areas, and some waste disposal services. Those who have their own well near one of these institutions can test their water. EPA provides grants to help small, underserved, and underserved communities conduct domestic water quality testing and comply with drinking water regulations.

PFAS price tag

Because information on the health of the new generation of chemicals is limited, reports from New York University and the National Academies focus on older PFASs.

First, the NYU team studied PFAS chemicals in blood samples taken from nearly 5,000 adults and children who participated in the US Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The team then determined the cost of PFAS based on models that estimated medical costs and productivity losses for these diseases based on previous studies linking PFAS to specific diseases.

Childhood obesity accounts for the largest share of the total economic cost of PFAS exposure, costing nearly $2.7 billion annually, the team estimated, followed by female hypothyroidism at $1.26 billion. When researchers looked at the top five PFAS-related diseases, such as endometriosis, obesity in adults and pneumonia in children, the estimated economic burden reached $63 billion annually.

Risk assessment

The National Academies report focuses on identifying high levels of PFAS in the body and testing recommendations for doctors to try to reduce exposure and how to reduce these losses.

The report provides the first clinical guidelines for assessing human disease risk. A person with blood PFAS levels below 2 nanograms per milliliter has nothing to worry about. But in patients with blood levels between 2 and 20 ng/mL, doctors should monitor for conditions such as unhealthy blood lipid levels that can lead to heart problems. Such screening is especially important for people who are most vulnerable to the effects of PFAS, such as children, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems. For people above 20 ng/ml, the report recommends routine screening for certain cancers, thyroid problems and ulcerative colitis.

"For 20 years, we've been able to measure PFAS in people's blood, but there's been no indication of what [those measurements] mean," said Jane Hoppin, co-author of the National Academies report, who led the study. Center for Human Health and the Environment at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. "For the first time, it accurately defines certain regions, indicating what the stress levels are and what kind of health care may be appropriate."

The recommendations will increase diagnostic availability and make doctors and patients more aware of these chemicals and their health risks. The report encourages clinicians to work with their patients to determine where they are exposed to PFAS and how to reduce those risks by reducing PFAS-containing products and purifying water.

In the year In 2020, researchers at Duke University and North Carolina State reported that the activated carbon filters found in some tabletop or pitcher filters do not remove PFAS as completely as reverse osmosis filters. Their relationship with the National Academies is NSF, a testing organization that provides technical specifications for filters that effectively filter out PFAS.

Measures such as reducing PFAS in drinking water can help. While the EPA's health advisory is advisory and non-binding, the agency is especially pleased with the prompt response to new chemicals like GenX. But given what we already know and what we already know about the burden of disease caused by these chemicals, he argues that more testing is needed before PFASs are approved. In addition, they should be controlled by units and not treated as a mole-scoring system.

"Our environmental policy is still taking a wait-and-see approach of 20 to 30 years, that's how long it takes for people to get sick from chemical exposure," he said.

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