environmental health
Prepare for PFAS: An Emerging Chemical Threat
By: Jennifer Liebreich, senior specialist, Environmental Health and Sarah Wright, senior specialist, Environmental Laboratories
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
is a collective term for several subclasses
of manmade chemicals which have been
produced for decades and continue to
be produced in large amounts. PFAS are
found in consumer products, industrial
emissions and firefighting foam. Used
to make household products resistant
to heat, water, oil and stains, exposure
most often occurs through contaminated
food or drinking water. Some, but not all,
studies in humans with PFAS exposure
have shown that certain PFAS may affect
growth, learning and behavior of infants
and older children, lower a woman’s
chance of getting pregnant, interfere
with the body’s natural hormones,
increase cholesterol levels, affect the
immune system and increase the risk
of cancer. As a result, federal agencies,
states and local health departments
have ramped up activities related to
PFAS in recent years, and resources
are available to conduct investigations
in more areas of the country.
PFAS Activities at CDC
Human exposure to PFAS is a public
health concern that the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)
National Center for Environmental Health
(NCEH) and the US Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
are helping their local, territorial, tribal,
state and federal partners to address.
Over the last decade, interest in PFAS has
been growing. NCEH/ATSDR is involved
at a number of PFAS-related sites, either
PFAS sites around the US with ATSDR involvement as of August 2017. Graphic by ATSDR Science Support Branch
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LAB MATTERS Winter 2018
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