A Michigan State University team conducted the first study assessing PFAS exposure in Parchment, a community affected by contamination from a landfill that received waste from a paper mill.
Courtney Carignan, lead investigator for the MSU team, says it’s important to look at the many different industries that used PFAS in production and how that might affect a community even years after the use is phased out.
“They have created this legacy contamination in the environment and because these PFAS are very persistent and also move very easily through soil, into groundwater and travel with the water cycle, it makes them very problematic.”
The team studied people in two groups: those exposed to more highly contaminated municipal water and those with private wells who showed lower levels.
“Women consistently tend to have lower levels in their blood, especially in the child-bearing years, so it’s thought to be related either to estrogen and/or increased elimination through menstruation, childbirth, and breast feeding.”
Carignan emphasized the importance of having a nationwide system for testing with enforceable guidelines to enable affected communities to get help with the high costs of PFAS mitigation.
Sources to learn more:
map of presumptive PFAS contamination
products that contain PFAS
Slick New Guide to Avoiding PFAS in Products
