Drinking water contaminated with Pfas probably increases risk of infant mortality, study finds | US news

Drinking water contaminated with Pfas chemicals likely increases the risk of infant mortality and other harm to newborns, according to a new peer-reviewed study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire.

Early research from the University of Arizona found that drinking well water downstream from a Pfas-contaminated site was linked to an increase in infant mortality by 191%, premature births by 20%, and low-weight births by 43%.

This was also linked to an increase in extremely preterm births and extremely low birth weight births, by 168% and 180%, respectively.

The results surprised the authors, said Derek Lemoine, a co-author of the study and a professor of economics at the University of Arizona who focuses on environmental policymaking and pricing climate risks.

“I don’t know if we expected to find such large and detectable effects, especially since there’s not a lot of infant mortality and there’s not a lot of premature or extremely low birth weights,” Lemoine said. “But it was there in the data.”

The study also compared the cost of societal damage from drinking contaminated water against the initial cleanup costs, and found that it was much less expensive to address Pfas water pollution.

By extrapolating the results to the entire American population, the authors estimate a negative annual economic impact of nearly $8 billion in increased health costs and loss of productivity alone. The cost of complying with current regulations for the removal of Pfas from drinking water is estimated at approximately $3.8 billion.

“We’re trying to put a number on that and it’s important because when you want to clean up and regulate Pfas, it has a real cost,” Lemoine said.

Pfas are a class of at least 16,000 compounds often used to help products resist water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down or accumulate naturally in the environment, and they are linked to serious health problems such as cancer, kidney disease, liver problems, immune disorders and birth defects.

Pfas are widely used in the economy and industrial sites that use them in large quantities often pollute groundwater. Military bases and airports are among the main sources of PFAS pollution because the chemicals are used in firefighting foam. The federal government estimates that about 95 million people across the country drink contaminated water from public or private wells.

Previous research has raised concerns about the impact of exposure to Pfas on fetuses and newborns.

Among these are toxicology studies in which researchers examine the impact of chemicals on laboratory animals, but that leaves open the question of whether humans suffer the same harm, Lemoine said.

Other studies are correlative and examine Pfas levels in umbilical cord blood or in newborns in relation to disease levels. Lemoine said these results are not always conclusive, in part because many variables can contribute to reproductive problems.

The new natural study is unique because it comes close to “isolating the effect of Pfas itself, not everything around it,” Lemoine said.

The researchers accomplished this by identifying 41 sites in New Hampshire contaminated with Pfoa and Pfos, two common Pfas compounds, and then using topographical data to determine the direction of groundwater flow. The authors then examined reproductive outcomes among residents downstream of the sites.

The researchers chose New Hampshire because it’s the only state where data on Pfas and reproduction are available, Lemoine said. The locations of the wells are confidential, so the mothers did not know if their water source was downstream from a Pfas-contaminated site. This created randomization that allows for causal inference, the authors noted.

The study’s methodology is rigorous and unique, and highlights “that Pfas is no joke and is toxic at very low concentrations,” said Sydney Evans, a senior science analyst at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. The group studies PFAS exposures and advocates for stricter regulations.

The study is effective in part because mothers didn’t know if they were exposed, which created randomization, Evans said, but she noted the state had the information. The findings raise the question of whether the state should conduct a similar analysis and alert at-risk mothers, Evans said.

Lemoine said the study has some limitations, including that the authors don’t know the exact levels of mothers’ exposure to Pfas and the research also doesn’t take into account other contaminants that may be found in the water. But he added that the results still give an accurate picture of the chemicals’ effects.

Granular activated carbon or reverse osmosis systems can be used by water treatment plants and home consumers to remove many types of Pfas, and these systems also remove other contaminants.

Last year, the Biden administration implemented drinking water limits for six types of Pfas and gave water utilities several years to install systems.

The Trump administration is moving to remove limits on certain compounds. This would likely cost the public more in the long run. Utility customers pay the cost of Pfas disposal, but the public also “pays the cost of drinking contaminated water, which is higher,” Lemoine said.