The Centers for Disease Control and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry announced on September 23 that they established cooperative agreements with seven partners to study the human health effects of exposures to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through drinking water at locations across the nation.
The seven partners awarded the cooperative agreement to conduct the multisite study are as follows:
- Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, to look at exposures in El Paso County, Colorado
- Michigan State Department of Health and Human Services to look at exposures in Parchment/Cooper Township, Michigan, and North Kent County, Michigan
- RTI International and the Pennsylvania Department of Health to look at exposures in Montgomery and Bucks counties, Pennsylvania
- Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, School of Public Health, to look at exposures in Gloucester County, New Jersey
- Silent Spring Institute to look at exposures in Hyannis, Massachusetts, and Ayer, Massachusetts
- University at Albany, SUNY, and New York State Department of Health to look at exposures in Hoosick Falls, New York, and Newburgh, New York
- University of California, Irvine, to look at exposures in communities near the UC Irvine Medical Center.
The multisite study will collect information about the immune response, lipid metabolism, kidney function, thyroid disease, liver disease, glycemic parameters, and diabetes. The CDC/ATSDR will also collect information about cancers, but the size of the study is not large enough for CDC/ATSDR to effectively evaluate the relationship between PFAS exposure and cancer. The multisite study seeks to enroll at least 6000 adults and 2000 children. To look at cancer outcomes, a study would need to enroll many times those numbers.
The multisite health study was authorized by the National Defense Authorization Acts of 2018 and 2019 to provide information to communities about the health effects of PFAS exposure.