PFAS in German children: Human biomonitoring data highlight urgent need for group restriction

By Eleanor Hawke | CHEM Trust | July 23, 2020

Read the full article by Eleanor Hawke (CHEM Trust)

“An official German human biomonitoring survey of children and adolescents has found harmful per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in the blood of children and adolescents in Germany; including substances that have already been phased out in the EU and globally.Some chemicals were present in the blood of some of the children, even though the chemicals had been phased out before they were born.

As the German Environment Agency highlighted in a press release, one-fifth of the participants had levels of the PFAS chemical PFOA in their blood that exceeded the HBM-I-value, which indicates an exposure at which harmful effects cannot be excluded with sufficient certainty.

PFAS are widely used in everyday products, including food packaging, furniture, cosmetics and clothing. Exposure can also result from environmental factors such as contaminated drinking water and food. Several PFAS have been linked to serious health concerns, including impacts on reproduction and the development of certain cancers.

The study adds to a growing body of literature showing thatpeople around the world, including children and teenagers, have harmful chemicals from the PFAS family in their body.

The German Environmental Survey

The human biomonitoring data were generated as part of the 5^th cycle of the German Environmental Survey (GerES V), carried out between 2014-2017. The GerES is a cross-sectional population study conducted in Germany since the 1980s. For the first time the current study provides population representative data on the PFAS exposure of German children and adolescents.

2,294 participants aged 3 to 17 years old, from 167 locations across Germany, took part in the survey. It included an interview and questionnaire to collect information on exposure factors, including food consumption, relevant behaviours and their living environment. 1,109 blood plasma samples were analysed for 12 PFAS, including PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS…”

This content provided by the PFAS Project.