The private, non-profit National Academy of Sciences recently published a report on the findings of its Commission on Human Health Effects of Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). PFAS are a class of over 12,000 man-made chemicals commonly used as surfactants in consumer and industrial products.
PFAS are also known as “forever chemicals” due to their biopersistence. Due to its chemical structure, PFAS resists degradation over time due to the strong bonding between carbon and fluorine atoms. Furthermore, even if the chemical structure is broken, it will reassemble as PFAS. Primarily for this reason, there is increasing concern in the regulatory and scientific community regarding human exposure to his PFAS through drinking water and consumer product use.
The Academy’s report focuses on the seven most commonly generated PFASs. The panel is satisfied that there is an association between PFAS exposure and reduced antibody responses in adults and children, dyslipidemia in adults and children, reduced infant and fetal growth, and an increased risk of kidney cancer in adults. I found that there is evidence The panel found only limited or suggestive evidence for associations between PFAS exposure and the following health effects: increased risk of breast cancer in adults, altered liver enzymes in adults and children, and risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension. increased risk of testicular cancer in adults, thyroid disease and dysfunction in adults, and increased risk of ulcerative colitis in adults. The panel found insufficient evidence to support an association between PFAS exposure and respiratory disease, neurological effects, and cancers other than kidney, breast, and testicular cancer.
The Commission’s findings are noteworthy for several reasons. First, the Commission’s findings of a “limited” or weak association between PFAS exposure and certain types of cancer (such as breast cancer and testicular cancer) underscore the many current bodily harms to PFAS manufacturers and suppliers. It undermines the research on which the lawsuit is premised. Second, the committee found that there was “substantial evidence” of an “association” between PFAS exposure and certain health conditions, but that PFAS exposure and adverse health effects and It does not say that there is a “causal relationship” between “Causality”, in contrast to “causality,” refers to statistics on the number of specific health outcomes, such as cancer, that exposure to a particular substance, compared to what would be expected without contact. demonstrated if it shows a statistically significant increase. exposed population. Although PFAS have been used extensively (and heavily) in the United States for decades, no scientific body or study has yet established a “causal link” between PFAS and adverse health effects. Despite the lack of medical consensus on whether PFAS constitute a health risk, a report from the National Academy of Sciences found that individuals suspected of having elevated PFAS levels in their blood due to occupational or environmental exposures We recommend that you get tested. It will be used to support an ongoing class action lawsuit calling for medical monitoring of people with high PFAS exposure levels.
