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Tag: PFAS

  • PFAS contamination likely at 58K sites in US

    PFAS contamination likely at 58K sites in US

    By Jennifer Allen

    Coastal Review Online

    Researchers for a recent study found that 57,412 sites nationwide, including 1,452 in North Carolina, are presumed to be contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

    The PFAS Project Lab research team published in mid-October its findings, “Presumptive Contamination: A New Approach to PFAS Contamination Based on Likely Sources,” in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The team concluded that PFAS contamination should be presumed at certain industrial facilities, sites related to PFAS-containing waste, and locations where fluorinated firefighting foams have been used.

    The PFAS Project Lab, based at Northeastern University in Boston, studies social, scientific and political factors related to PFAS and researches contamination through collaboration with impacted communities, researchers and nonprofits. The lab is supported by the National Science Foundation, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Whitman College.

    Researchers explain in the paper that because data on the scale, scope and severity of PFAS releases and the resulting contamination nationwide are uneven and incomplete, the team developed what they call the “presumptive contamination approach” to determine possible sources of contamination.  

    To do this, the team used previous research that identifies suspected industrial PFAS dischargers, state-based studies that use PFAS testing data to identify suspected categories of contamination, self-reported PFAS release data from industrial users, and numerous studies on specific PFAS-contaminated sites to compile the single map to find probable contamination. The map includes sites that are often sources of contamination, but where testing has not confirmed the presence of PFAS, according to the study.

    Of the 57,412 sites presumed to be contaminated with PFAS in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., 9,145 are industrial facilities, 4,255 are wastewater treatment plants, 3,493 are current or former military sites, and 519 are major airports. The report adds that proximity to contamination is consistently related to higher PFAS levels in drinking water, and consuming contaminated water is associated with higher PFAS blood levels.

    “While it sounds scary that there are over 57,000 presumptive contamination sites, this is almost certainly a large underestimation,” Phil Brown, director of Northeastern University’s Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute and coauthor on the paper, said in a statement. “The scope of PFAS contamination is immense, and communities impacted by this contamination deserve swift regulatory action that stops ongoing and future uses of PFAS while cleaning up already existing contamination.”

    PFAS exposure has been associated with increase in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, decreased antibody response to vaccines in children, decreased fertility in women, increased risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension and/or pre-eclampsia, kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, chronic kidney disease, elevated uric acid, hyperuricemia, and gout Liver damage, immune system disruption, and adverse developmental outcomes, including small decrease in birth weight and altered mammary gland development, according to the lab.

    Linda Birnbaum, coauthor on the paper and scientist emeritus and former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, reiterated to Costal Review that “Contamination is everywhere — often in places we never suspected.”

    She said in the release that “not only do we all have PFAS in our bodies, but we also know that PFAS affects almost every organ system. It is essential that we understand where PFAS are in our communities so that we can prevent exposures.”

    Alissa Cordner, senior author on the paper and co-director of the PFAS Project Lab, said that they know PFAS testing is very sporadic, and there are many data gaps in identifying known sites of PFAS contamination.

    “That’s why the ‘presumptive contamination’ model is a useful tool in the absence of existing high-quality data,” she said. 

    Cordner explained to Coastal Review in a follow-up interview that because most of the country does not have extensive testing data on PFAS contamination sites, the researchers’ model — presumptive contamination approach — can help decision-makers prioritize locations for future testing and regulatory action. 

    The research team used already-published scientific studies and government research programs that have identified specific types of locations that were sources of PFAS contamination. 

    “For example, extensive testing at Department of Defense sites suggests that military bases are presumptive sites of PFAS contamination because of the use of fluorinated firefighting foams,” she said.

    “We also gathered information about what types of industrial facilities are likely using and emitting PFAS. We found 11 high-quality studies or regulatory processes that targeted or identified specific types of industrial facilities, and we chose to include industry categories if they were identified on at least four of these lists,” Cordner said. 

    “We then gathered all of the publicly available, high-quality, nationwide data we could on the different types of presumptive PFAS contamination sites, and we kept in only the data that was specific enough in terms of its geolocation data that we could use it to create a nationwide map. This left us with over 57,000 identified sites in the United States.”

    The research team checked their model’s accuracy by comparing 500 known contamination sites from the PFAS Project Lab’s Contamination Site Tracker against the likely contamination sites identified with the presumptive contamination map. They found that 72{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of known contamination sites were either included in the map of presumptive contamination sites or captured by the overall conceptual model, even if those sites couldn’t be mapped at the national scale, according to the report. Some suspected sources of contamination, such as airplane and railroad crash sites, hydraulic fracking sites, and sewage sludge land application sites were not included on the map because of a lack of available nationwide data.

    With the development of the presumptive contamination concept, plus validating the model against known contamination sites, the paper states it “provides a rigorous advancement to previous academic and regulatory models and having a standardized methodology allows researchers, regulators, and other decision-makers at various geographic scales to identify presumptive PFAS contamination using publicly available data.”

    Kimberly Garrett, post-doctoral researcher at Northeastern University and coauthor on the paper, said that because PFAS testing is expensive and resource intensive, “We have developed a standardized methodology that can help identify and prioritize locations for monitoring, regulation and remediation.”

    In response to a request for comment on the study, a representative with the state Department of Health and Human Services said in an email that the department continues its work to understand the impact and effects of PFAS and other “forever chemicals” on the health of North Carolinians. 

    “The article provides a valuable estimate of PFAS contamination in NC that can help NCDHHS, communities, and private well users be more aware of sites where people might have more exposure to PFAS,” according to representative.

    “Private well users can utilize the map and community resources from the article, in conjunction with other NCDHHS private well guidance, to help decide whether they should test their wells for PFAS or other potential contaminants. To assist with these efforts, NCDHHS has developed several documents to help residents in impacted communities understand more about PFAS, see here: PFAS Factsheet,  GenX Factsheet,  PFAS Testing and Filtration, and PFAS Clinician Memo.”

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    by Coastal Review Online, North Carolina Health News
    November 4, 2022

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  • Possible link between PFAS and diabetes in women

    Possible link between PFAS and diabetes in women

    By Will Atwater

    Eastern North Carolina has some of the highest rates of diabetes in the state. 

    There are two forms of diabetes – type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is a genetic disorder in which the immune system destroys insulin producing cells needed to regulate blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body is unable to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. Factors associated with type 2 diabetes include diet, exercise and environment. 

    In 2020, the U.S. diabetes average was 10.6 percent, while the North Carolina average was 12.4 percent, according to American Health Rankings 2021 Annual Report. During this same period, the annual County Health Rankings report noted that Columbus County recorded a 19 percent diabetes rate, Pender County was at 15 percent and Brunswick showed a rate of 14 percent. These counties are a part of the lower Cape Fear River Basin.

    That’s why it’s worrisome that a recent study suggests that middle-aged women exposed to “forever chemicals” may be at a higher risk of contracting the disease. 

    Those forever chemicals are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They’re a family of synthetic chemicals that includes more than 4,700 substances, none of which are federally regulated. They’ve been a subject of scrutiny in eastern North Carolina since 2017, when researchers found that the Chemours chemical facility near Fayetteville had been dumping one of the PFAS chemicals known as GenX into the Cape Fear River for decades. 

    A key point in the findings, published in the journal Diabetologia, is that women who were exposed to a mixture of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are at a higher risk of developing diabetes than the women who were exposed to only one of the chemicals.

    The study’s authors wrote that this finding suggested, “a synergistic effect of multiple PFAS on diabetes risk.” 

    Based at the University of Michigan, the researchers tracked a mixed race group of 1,237 women with a median age of 49.4. They followed them for 17 years, from the turn of the century until 2017. Four out of five of the women had at least some college education.

    The researchers found that of the overall group studied, Black women who were less educated, less physically active, had a larger energy intake and higher BMI at baseline, were more likely to develop diabetes than the other participants. 

    Non-stick chemicals stick around

    PFAS have been manufactured and used by industries worldwide since the 1940s, used in everything from Teflon pans to raincoats to dental floss. They are also used in firefighting foams.

    The two most extensively produced and studied, PFOA and PFOS, have been phased out in the U.S., but they don’t break down easily and can accumulate in the environment and in human bodies, hence the moniker “forever chemicals.” There is a growing body of evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse human health effects.

    Although all the health effects of PFAS are still not completely clear, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says they are believed to impact the immune system and may reduce antibody responses to vaccines, including those for COVID-19.

    Additionally, studies on laboratory animals have found a link between PFAS and liver, kidney, testicular, pancreas and thyroid cancer. Studies also suggest that PFAS can cause high cholesterol, pregnancy problems and immune suppression. 

    The study’s researchers suspect that the molecular structures of different PFAS mimic naturally occurring fatty acids. Those fatty acids trigger receptors in the body’s cells that are sensitive to fat and insulin and control the formation and development of fat cells. Those receptors also exercise control of the body’s fat and blood sugar levels. 

    If PFAS chemicals are fooling the fat and insulin receptors in cells, that could disrupt their behavior and suggest a possible way that these substances affect diabetes risk.

    In other words, there may be environmental factors beyond one’s ability to control diet and exercise, for instance, that contribute to diabetes risk factors, the research suggests. 

    A call to action

    The Lower Cape Fear River Basin, which provides drinking water to Columbus, Pender and Brunswick counties, among others, is contaminated with a class of PFAS known as GenX. 

    There are more than 257,000 people living in these three counties, which have diabetes rates of 19 percent, 15 percent and 14 percent respectively. In contrast, the state’s two largest counties, Mecklenburg and Wake, have diabetes rates of 8 percent and 9 percent respectively. 

    The study may offer insights into certain public health issues in this region.

    Credit: CDC

    North Carolina State University epidemiologist Jane Hoppin believes the study – though started several years before North Carolina began tracking PFAS – has overlap with respect to certain legacy chemicals and is worth attention. 

    “While this is a [study] with older samples, it could be particularly relevant to people in North Carolina because our levels [of exposure] 22 years later, are like this general population sample [from] 20 years ago,” she said.

    Donald A. McClain, an endocrinologist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, says that while the Michigan study is compelling, there are likely several other factors that contribute to a diabetes diagnosis, including diet, genetic disposition and environmental factors. 

    On the other hand, McClain acknowledged this study contributes to a growing body of research that points to the negative effects of human exposure to forever chemicals. He believes it is not too soon to act.

    “I would not be sad if the political and social response to this [study] was maybe even a little bit ahead of science,” he said. “If I’m suddenly 75 percent sure, do I want to wait 10 years and be 99 percent sure?” 

    “And after 10 years, how many people have [been harmed]?”

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    Republish this article

    As of late 2019, we’re changing our policy about reprinting our content.

    You are free to use NC Health News content under the following conditions:

    • You can copy and paste this html tracking code into articles of ours that you use, this little snippet of code allows us to track how many people read our story.





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      North Carolina Health News is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit, statewide news organization dedicated to covering all things health care in North Carolina. Visit NCHN at northcarolinahealthnews.org. (on the web, this can be hyperlinked)

    by Will Atwater, North Carolina Health News
    April 26, 2022

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