Asian-Americans have nearly twice as many toxic “forever chemicals” in their blood that are linked to cancer and infertility compared to other ethnicities.
A study that tested the blood and urine of more than 3,000 Americans found that average levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were 89 percent higher in Asian-Americans than in whites.
Researchers said it’s unclear why Asian-Americans have higher PFAS levels, but thought it could be due to a diet high in seafood, which is a major source of contamination.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of synthetic chemicals present in food packaging, clothing and thousands of other products in the US.
Because of their ubiquity, they leach into the soil, drinking water, air and food, exposing Americans to the toxins almost everywhere.
They are considered ‘forever chemicals’ because they do not break down in the environment or in the human body.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of synthetic chemicals present in thousands of products and foods in the US. The map above shows cities that have been found to have higher concentrations of PFAS in public water supplies and private wells
PFAS, also called “forever chemicals,” have been linked to birth defects and an increased risk of a range of cancers.
Researchers say it’s unclear why Asian-Americans have higher PFAS levels, but they do know that fish is a major source of PFAS exposure and that populations with higher levels of seafood in their diets tend to have higher levels of PFAS (stick -photo)
PFAS have been linked to birth defects and an increased risk of a range of cancers.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, was conducted by researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
It is the first in which researchers took into account a large number of complex sources of exposure from different groups of people to calculate an individual’s exposure to PFAS.
For the study, they analyzed data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a research program designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the US between 2013 and 2018.
The group of studies includes a representative sample of the US population, consisting of 3,915 people.
Researchers then collected human biomonitoring information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including blood and urine samples, and measured levels of eight types of PFAS.
Dr. Shelley Liu, author of the study and an associate professor of Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said the researchers used a tailored approach to determine PFAS levels among different ethnicities to identify “hidden” differences. to find.
“These differences are hidden if we use a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to measure people’s exposure,” Dr Liu added.
Among Asian-Americans, researchers also found that lower-income people had higher median levels of PFAS in their blood, but higher-income households among the general population had higher levels of PFAS.
Based on the data analyzed, researchers concluded that exposure sources, such as diet and occupation, may account for differences in exposure between different ethnic populations in the US.
However, they stressed that it is important to note that it is difficult to trace the sources of exposure to the toxins because they are so ubiquitous. They hope that future work will focus more on sources of PFAS exposure.