Research shows that PFAS increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease

For the first time, researchers have formally shown that exposure to toxic PFAS increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, adding a new level of concern to the widespread use of the controversial chemicals.

The findings are especially important because it is difficult to prove a link to death from chemical exposure, but researchers were able to determine this by looking at death data from the Veneto region of northern Italy, where many residents drank water for decades that was heavily contaminated with PFAS, also called ‘forever’. Chemicals”.

Data further showed an increased risk of death from various forms of cancer, but could not formally link due to other factors.

“This is the first time anyone has found strong evidence of a link between PFAS exposure and cardiovascular death,” said Annibale Biggeri, lead author of the peer-reviewed study and a researcher at the University of Padua.

PFAS are a class of 15,000 chemicals used in dozens of industries to make products resistant to water, stains and heat. Although the compounds are highly effective, previous research has linked them to cancer, kidney disease, birth defects, lowered immunity, liver problems and a range of other serious diseases.

The drinking water of Veneto was widely polluted by a PFAS manufacturing plant between 1985 and 2018. Researchers first discovered an excess of about 4,000 deaths during this period, or nearly three per month.

Part of the region was supplied with water from a different source, giving researchers the opportunity to compare data from tens of thousands of people who drank contaminated water and lived near those who did not.

Although PFAS can affect the cardiovascular system in several ways, it is largely a problem because it persistently produces high and dangerous cholesterol levels. The levels are difficult to control because they are not caused by dietary or lifestyle choices that can be addressed with adjustments, but by hormonal changes that affect metabolism and the body’s ability to control plaque in the arteries hold.

The study authors suspect that post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the environmental disaster, which upended lives across the region, may also contribute to circulatory disorders.

The evidence of a jump in kidney cancer was also “very clear,” Biggeri said. In the first five years of the study, 16 cases were recorded, while 65 cases were recorded in the last five years. Increased levels of testicular cancer during certain periods were also found.

The data “clearly” showed that past life exposure led to higher mortality rates, except among women who have multiple children. Previous research has found that levels were higher in women with only one child.

The chemicals accumulate in the placenta and are passed on to children during pregnancy, reducing levels in the body. Mortality rates among women of childbearing age were generally lower, but increased among older women.

The chemicals will be passed on to children for generations, said Laura Facciolo, a Veneto resident who drank contaminated water. She said the findings underscore the need to ban PFAS and the injustice of the disaster.

“I ended up in a big giant lawsuit where no one gave consent, just like mice,” she said. “I have no words for this.”