New worries about risks PFAS and other chemicals pose for pregnancies
The researchers said their findings add to
a growing body of evidence showing that many chemicals people are routinely
exposed to are leading to subtle, but harmful, changes in health.
“This is such an important issue,” said Tracey Woodruff, professor and director of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment.
“It’s
urgent we do more to understand the role that chemicals have in maternal
conditions and health inequities. We are being exposed to hundreds of chemicals
and this research contributes to better understanding of the impact they are
having on our health.”
The US has the highest maternal mortality
in the developed world. Maternal death rates in the US doubled between 1999 and 2019, with mortality highest for
African-American mothers.
Fresh findings
In the government-funded study,
which was published Wednesday in the Environmental Health
Perspectives journal, a team led by Woodruff and other UCSF
researchers said they found multiple harmful chemicals, including types
of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in the blood
of 302 pregnant study participants as well as in the umbilical cord blood of
their babies.
At least 97% of the blood samples contained a type of PFAS known as PFOS, which has long been associated with multiple serious health problems, including birth defects.
The fresh findings of PFOS in
maternal blood samples comes despite the fact that the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) announced an agreement with PFOS maker 3M more than 23
years ago to phase out the use of PFOS.
Other chemicals found in the majority of
the pregnant women included abnormal fatty acids and other chemicals used to
make pesticides, certain medications and plastics.
The researchers said many of the chemicals
found in the maternal blood are associated with an increased risk of
gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia – a serious and sometimes deadly pregnancy
complication – and pregnancy-related hypertension.
The long-chain fatty acids found have
previously only been documented in people suffering from Reyes syndrome – a serious condition that causes swelling
in the liver and brain – but not in healthy individuals, the researchers noted.
Those specific types of fatty acids found
in the blood of study participants is an area of particular concern because
little is known about their health impacts and they are used in the production
of plastics, said Jessica Trowbridge, another UCSF-affiliated author of the
study.
The work, which was funded by the National
Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
and the EPA, should be seen as a “wake-up call” for policy makers regarding the
effects of the proliferation of plastic chemicals and PFAS, Woodruff said.
Tom Flanagin, a spokesman for the American Chemistry Council, said without reviewing the study the organization could not comment on its findings in detail.
But the organization stressed that not all
PFAS chemicals are the same and all PFAS currently on the market “have been
reviewed by EPA’s new chemicals program.”
“We support strong, science-based
regulation of PFAS chemistries,” Flanagin said.
Exposure is
“widespread”
The research paper comes at the same time that new testing commissioned by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found the “widespread presence” of PFAS in the drinking water of dozens of US cities.
Elevated levels of PFAS were discovered in Austin, Denver,
and Los Angeles as well as smaller communities that included Glencoe, Illinois
and Monroe, New Jersey, and elsewhere.
And earlier this month, the US Geological
Survey (USGS), a unit of the US Department of Interior, reported that 45% of US drinking water is contaminated with PFAS.
There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS
chemicals, which are sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they do not
naturally break down and persist not only in the environment, but in bodies of
animals and people.
PFAS have been linked to health problems
including cancer, decreased fertility, and kidney disease. The chemicals, which
have been used to make many popular consumer goods, can leach into drinking
water from industrial sites, sewage treatment plants, landfills, or certain
firefighting foams.
US officials have proposed national drinking water standards for six types of
PFAS, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a new framework aimed at preventing some new PFAS chemicals
from entering the market.
The chemical giants 3M, Dupont, and others
recently agreed to settlements that may provide affected communities with
billions of dollars to test for the toxic chemicals and remove them from their
drinking water.
(This story is co-published with The Guardian.)
