\n<\/p>\n
New peer-reviewed research shows fetuses likely have much higher levels of Pfas \u201cforever chemicals\u201d in their blood than previously thought.<\/p>\n
Testing of umbilical cord blood typically looks for a small number of common Pfas compounds, like Pfoa and Pfos. However, thousands of Pfas exist, and a new Mount Sinai study tested 120 umbilical blood cord samples that were previously found to contain up to four compounds.<\/p>\n
The expanded \u201cnon-targeted analysis\u201d identified 42 Pfas compounds across the 120 samples, and the total level of Pfas in the blood was much higher than previously found.<\/p>\n
The findings suggest \u201cbabies are exposed to many more Pfas than we previously thought\u201d, said Shelley Liu, a study co-author and associate professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s particularly important to understand because it is a very vulnerable period when fetuses are exposed,\u201d Liu added.<\/p>\n
Pfas are a class of about 15,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. The chemicals have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease and a range of other serious health problems. They are dubbed \u201cforever chemicals\u201d because they do not naturally break down in the environment.<\/p>\n
Fetuses are widely exposed to Pfas via umbilical cord blood. A review of 40 studies found researchers had collectively detected Pfas in each of 30,000 umbilical cord blood samples they checked. Elevated Pfas levels in mothers is associated with higher infant mortality, as well as low birth weight and obesity later in life. Studies have also linked fetal exposure to cancer, neurological problems and cardiovascular disease later in life.<\/p>\n
The \u201clegacy\u201d compounds like Pfoa and Pfos were most commonly used until the last decade. Those have been phased out, and replaced with newer generations of Pfas that chemical makers claim, often without evidence, are less toxic. Meanwhile, Pfas may break down into new compounds once in the environment or human body.<\/p>\n
Regulators\u2019 methods to check blood, water and other mediums for these new Pfas have been slow in keeping up with the shift. The US Environmental Protection Agency, for example, typically only checks water samples using a test method that looks for around 30-40 compounds, though thousands have been found in water by independent researchers. A 2022 Guardian analysis found regulators frequently undercounted Pfas levels in water.<\/p>\n
The Mount Sinai study effectively compared the umbilical cord blood samples using the old analysis and the broader \u201cnon-targeted\u201d analysis that checks for thousands of compounds.<\/p>\n
As expected, the more comprehensive testing found more Pfas, Liu said. The EPA recently certified a blood test that will check for 53 compounds. Liu said the expanded list is an improvement over the more limited tests, but Mount Sinai\u2019s non-targeted analysis found 31 compounds not included in the EPA test.<\/p>\n
What does this mean for babies? The study did not look at health problems, and Liu said the impact is \u201ckind of unclear\u201d, but higher levels of Pfas in blood are generally associated with a higher risk of health problems.<\/p>\n
The blood that researchers analyzed was drawn as part of the federal government\u2019s Home study, which follows people\u2019s Pfas exposure and health outcomes through life. Mount Sinai\u2019s authors will likely try to understand the health implications.<\/p>\n
The study shows how \u201charms to babies polluted with a complete mixture of Pfas chemicals has likely been underestimated due to the inability to measure these compounds\u201d, said David Andrews, acting chief science officer with the Environmental Working Group non-profit, which was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis paper is a stark reminder of the importance of health-protective regulations and how lax oversight can result in babies being born pre-polluted with harmful chemicals such as Pfas,\u201d Andrews added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New peer-reviewed research shows fetuses likely have much higher levels of Pfas \u201cforever chemicals\u201d in their blood than previously thought. Testing of umbilical cord blood typically looks for a small number of common Pfas compounds, like Pfoa and Pfos. However, thousands of Pfas exist, and a new Mount Sinai study tested 120 umbilical blood cord<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1453,2763,23801,37,293,445],"class_list":{"0":"post-46771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-blood","9":"tag-chemicals","10":"tag-fetuses","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-report","13":"tag-thought"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}