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The Link Between PFAS Exposure and Cancer
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What are PFAS, and how are they dangerous?
PFAS, otherwise known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a complex group of man-made chemicals originally invented in the 1940s to make Teflon, the black coating used on nonstick cookware. Today, the family of chemicals has expanded into thousands of diverse PFAS compounds that are used in various everyday goods, like food packaging, stain-resistant fabric, water-resistant clothing, fire fighting foam, and other grease-resistant products.
Though PFAS have been used in many consumer goods and revolutionized modern cooking, they’ve created a devastating effect on the environment and our bodies. The atoms that make up PFAS molecules are chained together with an extremely strong carbon-fluorine bond, making PFAS compounds take a long time to break down. These chemicals can easily migrate into the soil, water, and air during PFAS production. It takes hundreds, if not thousands of years for them to break down in the environment. This is the reason why PFAS are called “forever chemicals.”
Because PFAS are so frequently produced and linger in the environment for such a long period of time, these forever chemicals have been detected in the blood of humans and wildlife around the world. In 2015, the CDC discovered that 97% of all Americans likely have PFAS in their blood. PFAS compounds can take over seven years to break down in the human body— a major problem that has been linked to a variety of health issues for millions of people.
Common symptoms caused by PFAS exposure
The CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have found that exposure to PFAS can cause a variety of side effects in humans. These symptoms are especially likely to occur after contact with certain highly toxic PFAS compounds like PFOA and PFOS. Depending on whether you were exposed to PFAS through ingestion, skin contact, or inhalation, as well as the amount of PFAS in your bloodstream, your symptoms may vary.
- High cholesterol
- Increased risk of obesity
- Decreased fertility
- Hormonal imbalance
- High blood pressure in pregnant women
- Abnormal liver enzyme levels
- Developmental effects, like low birth weight or accelerated puberty
- Immunodeficiency
- Lowered response to some vaccines
Types of cancer linked to PFAS exposure
Multiple studies have found that PFAS exposure has also been linked to more serious health issues, including an increased risk of developing kidney cancer, testicular cancer, and other illnesses.
In 2020, researchers in the Occupational Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) analyzed nearly 650 peoples’ blood samples to test the connection between PFAS exposure and kidney cancer. The results of the study found that the participants with the highest amounts of PFOA in their bloodstreams were more than twice as likely to develop kidney cancer than individuals with the lowest levels of PFOA.
Then in 2023, a federal case-control study led by the Uniformed Services University tested the blood levels of over 1,000 active-duty Air Force veterans to investigate the connection between PFAS exposure and testicular cancer. The results of the study provided researchers with two new insights.
First: veterans who served as firefighters or worked at bases with high levels of PFAS water contamination were associated with an increased level of PFOS in their bloodstreams. And, second: veterans with elevated blood levels of PFOS had a higher risk of developing testicular cancer.
PFAS exposure has also been suggested to increase the risk of developing prostate cancer, liver cancer, thyroid cancer, and breast cancer. However, researchers have only published a small amount of research investigating the connection between PFAS exposure and these cancer types, making their connections currently unclear.
Join the PFAS lawsuit
If you or a close family member developed kidney or testicular cancer after being exposed to PFAS in tap water, firefighting foam, or a consumer good within the last 20 years, there’s still time to join in on the recent $10.3 billion settlement.
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Referenced Articles
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. (2024, May 23). Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). Retrieved from https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/pfc
- Environmental Working Group. (2022, March). What are PFAS chemicals? Retrieved from https://www.ewg.org/what-are-pfas-chemicals
View more sources
- McFall-Johnsen, M. et al. (2024, April 10). How long PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ stay in the body. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/chart-how-long-hazardous-forever-chemicals-pfas-stay-in-blood-2023-3#:~:text=Toxic%20metals%20like%20lead%20or,re%20called%20%22forever%20chemicals.%22
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (2024, January 18). What are PFAS? Retrieved from https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/health-effects/overview.html
- Lewis, R.C. et al. (2015). Serum Biomarkers of Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Relation to Serum Testosterone and Measures of Thyroid Function among Adults and Adolescents from NHANES 2011-2012. International journal of environmental research and public health, 12(6), 6098–6114. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4483690/
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (2024, January 18). What are the health effects of PFAS? Retrieved from https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/health-effects/index.html
- Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, May 16). Our Current Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-understanding-human-health-and-environmental-risks-pfas
- National Cancer Institute. (2020, September 24). Environmental Pollutant, PFOA, Associated with Increased Risk of Kidney Cancer. Retrieved from https://dceg.cancer.gov/news-events/news/2020/pfoa-kidney
- Purdue, M. et al. (2023, July 17). A Nested Case–Control Study of Serum Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Testicular Germ Cell Tumors among U.S. Air Force Servicemen. In Environmental Health Perspectives (vol 131, issue 7). Retrieved from https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/EHP12603
- Goodrich, J. A. et al. (2022, August 8). Exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in a multiethnic cohort. JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology, 4(10), 100550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhepr.2022.100550
- National Cancer Institute. (2023, September). PFAS Exposure and Risk of Cancer. Retrieved from https://dceg.cancer.gov/research/what-we-study/pfas#prostate-cancer
About the PFAS Lawsuit
Products at-risk
- Contaminated tap water
- AFFF fire fighting foam
- Teflon non-stick cookware
- Grease-proof food packaging
- Cleaning products
- Stain-resistant fabrics
- Microwavable popcorn bags
- Paints and sealants
- Some shampoo brands
- Some cosmetic goods
- …and more.
Who's being sued?
3M, DuPont, the Chemours Company, Corteva, and other defendants
Which illnesses are eligible ?
- Kidney Cancer
- Testicular Cancer
- Thyroid disease
