PFAS blood tests in Newburgh show high levels of five chemicals

By Lana Bellamy | Times Herald-Record | May 28, 2021

Read the full article by Lana Bellamy (Times Herald-Record)

“NEWBURGH – A study that measured levels of PFAS in the blood of Newburgh area residents showed they had high levels of toxic chemicals in their bodies that likely came from the city’s past water source.

Broad community results of the exposure study were released earlier this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ATSDR, that are overseeing the study.

The exposure test, which only observed the amount of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, in samples of people’s blood and urine, will inform a larger, multi-site national study of health affects associated with PFAS.

Participants were randomly selected from households that receive water from Newburgh. Recruitment began last spring.

Health agencies in charge of the studies are focusing on communities near current or former military bases known to have PFAS in their drinking water.

In 2016, high levels of PFAS chemicals exceeding federal safety standards were found in the city of Newburgh’s primary drinking water source, Washington Lake. Newburgh quickly switched off the lake and now draws water from Brown’s Pond and New York City’s Catskill Aqueduct. Studies determined the use of PFAS-laden firefighting foam at New York Stewart Air National Guard base as the source of the contamination…”

This content provided by the PFAS Project.