Levels of PFAS in blood of local residents have gone down — but are still higher than most of country

Local educational and grassroots efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of consuming PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, seem to be paying off. According to new research, Fayetteville area residents who enrolled in a N.C. State study testing the levels of toxic forever chemicals in their blood had lower levels in 2023 than two years prior.

The N.C. State GenX Exposure Study, which began in November 2017, seeks to measure exposure to GenX and other PFAS by taking blood samples from three communities in the Cape Fear River Basin: Fayetteville, Pittsboro and the Lower Cape Fear, which includes New Hanover and Brunswick counties. The study’s lead researcher, Jane Hoppin, presented the research results at a community meeting in Gray’s Creek on Sept. 17. 

“In 2017, we started in Wilmington because people have found out that there was GenX in their water, and they had been drinking water that basically contained Teflon products for over 40 years,” Hoppin said. 

PFAS have been found in high levels in the well water of residents in the Fayetteville area, because of pollution from the nearby Fayetteville Works manufacturing plant. GenX is a trademark type of PFAS developed by DuPont, the predecessor to spin-off company Chemours. The N.C. State study was composed of residents in the Fayetteville area that had PFAS detected in their private wells.

Despite growing awareness of the contamination crisis, only two types of PFAS chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, have been labeled as carcinogens by the World Health Organization. The goal of the N.C State study, according to its mission statement, is to track participants for up to 20 years, taking samples every couple years, to “understand how PFAS chemicals in drinking water may impact human health of residents of the Cape Fear River Basin.” 

Hoppin’s research team collected blood samples from 1,019 people by 2021, including 300 individuals from Fayetteville. In 2023, the researchers followed up with these participants to compare their exposure levels, collecting samples from 519 of the original participants, 126 of whom were from Fayetteville. 

“Unfortunately, the levels in people’s blood are still higher than what we know for the rest of the U.S. population,” Hoppin said. “So the take home is that people in the Cape Fear river basin, from Pittsboro to New Haven, Brunswick counties, are adversely impacted by a variety of PFAS.”         

The researchers found that the four most common types of PFAS in participants’ blood — PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, PFNA — decreased for most people between 2021 and 2023. This indicates that efforts to reduce PFAS exposure, such as buying bottled water and using home filtration systems, have had a meaningful impact on build up in the body, Hoppin said.

“This is reassuring that over time, if exposure doesn’t continue, then the levels will go down,” Hoppin said. 

The continued PFAS research by N.C. State scientists comes as local, state and federal bodies are working to implement restrictions on forever chemicals and set up infrastructure to address the widespread pollution. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is seeking to limit certain PFAS in groundwater and, after an uphill battle to get the proposed regulations past the state’s rulemaking committee, a public comment period is now underway for their consideration. In April, the Environmental Protection Agency announced unprecedented rules to regulate the levels of PFAS in the drinking water of public water utilities across the country. Locally, Fayetteville’s Public Works Commission is working to meet the EPA’s rules with a new $111.2 million PFAS filter system, expected to be operational by the EPA’s 2029 deadline. 

This spring, Cumberland County also announced it was partnering with PWC to bring public water to Gray’s Creek and two elementary schools where residents have used specialized filters and bottled water for years to avoid exposure to toxic PFAS chemicals. At the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Sept. 16 meeting, county commissioners voted to pass a resolution seeking available state funding to develop a water supply system for Gray’s Creek. The project, which includes adding lines to two elementary schools, could cost as much as $100 million, according to PWC CEO Tim Bryant.  

Health effects, recommendations and next steps 

PFAS are a class of about 16,000 toxic and pervasive chemicals colloquially referred to as “forever chemicals” for their inability to naturally break down in the environment and to build up in the human body. Exposure to PFAS is linked to a number of adverse health effects, ranging from kidney cancer to heart disease to reproductive issues. 

The N.C. State study found that the research participants had some unique health outcomes linked to high level-PFAS exposure. About 30% of women in the study have some form of thyroid disease, Hoppin said. In the Fayetteville community specifically, “some people have very high levels of triglycerides,” or high levels of fat in blood, which Hoppin said is a risk factor for severe medical problems like heart disease and stroke.

Based on the initial study results, Hoppin suggested that people who rely on private wells in the Fayetteville area consider taking specific steps to address health risks from exposure to the chemicals. These include getting regular cholesterol level checks, requesting a thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) tests and getting screened for diseases associated with abnormally high PFAS exposure. These diseases include kidney cancer, breast cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, dyslipidemia and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. 

Hoppin also encourages people with high PFAS levels in the study to minimize exposure to forever chemicals in other ways: avoid eating home-grown fruits, vegetables and eggs, as these can contain PFAS from contaminated soil, and be mindful of risks from occupational exposures, like firefighting and waterproofing jobs.

The N.C. State researchers will be conducting more testing for Fayetteville area residents in November, and plan to reach out to residents who had previously taken part in the study but were not tested again in 2023. Hoppin encouraged people who participated in the first round of sampling to get tested again; doing so will help secure more funding to continue her team’s research, she said. To learn more about the study and contact the researchers, visit the GenX Exposure website.

Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. This story was made possible by donations from readers like you to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.