- The CDC says doctors should test patients’ blood for chemicals forever
- CDC hopes this will help people concerned about PFAS exposure learn more
- READ MORE: So what’s safer: tap or bottled water? Daily Mail puts it to experts
Doctors could soon start testing their patients’ blood for cancer-causing “forever chemicals,” following new advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new accompaniment The federal agency’s effort isn’t intended to determine whether Americans have PFAS in their blood — numerous studies have already found that 98 percent of Americans do — but the CDC hopes the blood tests will give health care providers a better idea of how widespread it is problem and how they can best help people minimize their risk.
PFAS are known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they do not break down and remain in the body for years. Once there, they enter the bloodstream and damage organs.
Microplastics have been used in a variety of industries since the 1930s and have since become ubiquitous. They coat the insides of water bottles, contaminate food, give cookware its nonstick coating and keep stains out of clothes and carpets.
Bottle or tap? PFAS chemicals are ubiquitous in tap and bottled water because they coat the inside of containers
The map compiled by the US Geological Survey shows the number of PFAS detections in a wide range of locations nationwide between 2016 and 2021.
Dr. Aaron Bernstein, director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), said ABC news the information is intended “for individuals and communities across the country concerned about PFAS exposure to have productive conversations with their medical providers.”
Forever chemicals lurk in drinking water, as a product of industrial waste production and disposal, and in contaminated stormwater runoff.
The chemicals enter drinking water when products containing them are used or spilled on the ground or into lakes and rivers.
Once in groundwater, PFAS can travel great distances and contaminate drinking water sources. Airborne PFAS can also end up in rivers and lakes, which are often used for drinking water.
Air pollution is also a major source of PFAS contamination. Factories spew it out into the atmosphere. Once in the air, they can travel far with ease.
A handful of the more than 7,000 different PFAS chemicals have been identified as possible carcinogens and causes of liver and thyroid disorders and pregnancy complications.
PFAS contamination is a relatively new concern, as scientists have only recently – within the past decade – begun studying the long-term effects of drinking contaminated water and breathing poisoned air.
The CDC’s new guidelines encourage patients and doctors to discuss the risks of PFAS exposure and the benefits of blood tests to determine what types of treatments or preventative health measures may be needed.
When deciding whether to order PFAS testing, doctors “may consider an individual’s exposure history, the results of the PFAS testing from the patient’s water supply, food sources, or other routes of exposure, and whether the results could help reduce exposure and health promotion.’
Nearly half of all tap water sources in the US are laced with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals,” according to a major study by the US Geological Survey last year.
The report found that 45 percent of drinking water sources contained at least one PFAS – with the highest concentrations in the Great Plains, the Great Lakes, the East Coast, and Central and Southern California.
Experts said the findings were “frightening” given the scale of the problem and the link between the toxins and serious health problems such as cancer, infertility, birth defects and hormone problems.
But bottled water may not be much better. Researchers at Columbia University have found that the average liter bottle of water they buy at the store contains more than 240,000 nanoplastics, PFAS linked to cancer, infertility and birth defects.
Cities with the highest levels of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in tap water also have above-average rates of illness and pregnancy complications.
The majority of neighborhoods with the highest levels of PFAS chemicals in drinking water suffer more cancer diagnoses and deaths each year than the rest of the country and see more babies born at dangerously low weights.
