PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ found in half of US drinking water DOUBLE risk of cancer in women… but NOT men, study suggests

Toxic “forever chemicals” lurking in nearly half of America’s drinking water pose a much greater health risk to women than men, an impact study shows.

Scientists have been warning for years that tiny man-made PFAS chemicals found in thousands of household products can cause a range of diseases and cancers.

However, a recent study is the first to show that PFAS affect men and women differently, posing a higher cancer risk for women.

The study results suggest that women with the highest exposure to PFAS were twice as likely to report a prior melanoma diagnosis as women in the lowest exposure group.

The study also found a link between PFAS and a prior diagnosis of uterine cancer, and women with higher exposure also had a marginal increase in the odds of having prior ovarian cancer.

David Andrews, senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, was not involved in the study, but reviewed the findings and said more monitoring of contaminated water is needed.

He said: “This study adds even more evidence to a growing body of scientific research linking exposure to common man-made chemical pollutants with an increased risk of developing cancer.”

“Much more scrutiny is needed to ensure that chemicals that affect the endocrine system and change hormone levels do not contaminate our bodies.”

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization focused on environmental contaminants, mapped communities and military sites confirmed to have PFAS contamination.

PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” have been linked to birth defects and an increased risk of a variety of cancers.

The researchers did not provide a definitive reason for why women were disproportionately affected by environmental exposure to PFAS, although they speculated that it could be related to hormones and emphasized that more research is needed on the associations.

The results are particularly concerning because previous studies have shown that most Americans drink water straight from the tap that could contain chemicals.

PFAS are a group of synthetic chemicals found in food packaging, clothing, and thousands of other products in the United States.

Because of their ubiquity, they leach into soil, drinking water, air, and food, exposing Americans to toxins almost everywhere.

They have been considered “permanent chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment or the human body and have been linked to birth defects and an increased risk of a variety of cancers.

PFAS are endocrine disrupting chemicals. This system is responsible for regulating the body’s hormones and all biological processes from conception to old age, including the development of the brain and nervous system and the growth and function of the reproductive system.

The ovaries and testes, as well as the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands are important components of the endocrine system.

The researchers said their study highlighted that in multiple types of tumors, people with a previous cancer diagnosis had elevated levels of toxins in their body. Hormone-driven cancers, such as breast cancer, are often treated with hormone therapy, but exposure to endocrine-disrupting substances, such as PFAS, could make therapies less effective and cause disease progression and recurrence.

For the study, researchers analyzed data between 2005 and 2018 from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a curriculum designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the US.

Data from about 27,000 people were included and concentrations of seven PFAS and 12 phenols/parabens, types of permanent chemicals, were analyzed in people’s blood and urine samples.

The study did not provide geographic information of the subjects.

However, a previous study by the U.S. Geological Survey tested source water from 716 public and private water sources across the country for PFAS and found that 45 percent of drinking water sources contained at least one PFAS.

Based on the data, the researchers concluded that faucets in densely populated urban locations generally had higher levels of PFAS than faucets in rural areas of the country.

The greatest concentrations were found in the Great Plains, the Great Lakes, the East Coast, and central and southern California.

Researchers in the recent study collected cases of self-reported diagnoses of melanoma and cancers of the thyroid, breast, ovaries, uterus, prostate and testicles in men and women over 20 years of age.

Of the substances studied, they found that certain PFAS and phenols/parabens were associated with higher rates of certain cancer diagnoses.

Previous diagnoses of melanoma were observed in women exposed to six types of PFAS. Previous ovarian cancer was observed in women exposed to three types of PFAS, and previous uterine cancer was associated with one PFAS.

Two other PFAS known as PFNA and PFUA were almost twice as likely to have a prior melanoma diagnosis.

Of the substances studied, they found that certain PFAS and phenols/parabens were associated with higher rates of certain cancer diagnoses.

The study found no link between PFAS and previous diagnoses in men.

In the group of people exposed to phenol and parabens, the researchers observed a diagnosis of melanoma in 20 men and 27 women and a diagnosis of thyroid cancer in three men and nine women.

Prostate cancer was observed in 104 men and breast cancer in 114 women.

Twenty women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 37 were diagnosed with uterine cancer.

Among the other group exposed to PFAS, melanoma was seen in 52 men and 39 women and thyroid cancer in seven men and 28 women.

Thirty-five women had ovarian cancer, 51 had uterine cancer, and 178 had breast cancer. Among the men, 199 had prostate cancer.

There were also racial differences. White women were more likely than Black women to have been previously diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer, and white men with PFAS exposure were more likely than Black men to have been previously diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The study was published Monday in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology and led by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Southern California and the University of Michigan.