Average Levels Are More Than
10x That Of General Population
by Alex Brooks
The New York State Department of Health started sending out test results to people from Hoosick Falls who are participating in the Health Dept.’s biomonitoring project on June 2. Individual results are confidential, so the DOH information sheet about the result is a bit vague and generalized.
[private]2081 people in Hoosick Falls had their blood tested, and results ranged from non-detect to over 200 parts per billion. The average level of PFOA found in the blood of the US population generally is about 2 parts per billion.
The average level of PFOA in the blood of the people tested in Hoosick Falls was 23.5 parts per billion. The level of the person in the 50th percentile of testing (half the samples were higher and half lower) was 28.3 parts per billion.
Females were slightly lower, averaging 21.3 parts per billion, and males slightly higher, averaging 26.6 parts per billion. Older people had higher levels than younger people. The average level for those 60 and over was 31.7, for age 40 to 59 it was 25.7, for those 18 to 39 it was 18.7, and for those 17 and younger it was 16.3.
The DOH information sheet provided, by way of comparison, average blood levels of people in other communities where PFOA contamination has been found. In Little Hocking, Ohio, the average level was 228 parts per billion. In Lubeck, West Virginia, the average level was 92 parts per billion. In Tuppers Plains, Ohio, the average level was 42 parts per billion. In Mason County, West Virginia, the average level was 16 parts per billion.
The populations with the highest levels of exposure are people who worked with PFOA. The information sheet provided average blood levels for two occupationally exposed groups: 3m workers in Decatur, Alabama had an average level 1,125 parts per billion, and DuPont workers in Parkersburg, West Virginia had an average level of 410 parts per billion.
The Department of Health is not providing any guidance on the question of what level of PFOA in the blood is likely to lead to illness. Their document said, “Because scientists and public health experts are still learning about PFOA and human health, the blood testing result does not indicate if a person’s current illness is due to PFOA, or if a person will experience illness in the future due to PFOA.”
The State Health Department is investigating if there is a greater incidence of cancer among Village residents than there is among the general population. The investigation will include total cancers and specific types of cancer diagnosed from 1995 through 2012. To accomplish this, the State Health Department will use data from the New York State Department of Health Cancer Registry, which receives reports on all cases of cancer occurring in New York State. The planned start date is 1995 because street address at the date of diagnosis is available in computerized form for all cases starting with that year. The planned end date is 2012 because 2012 is currently the most recent year for which data are available. The State Health Department will produce a report on the findings of the investigation.
PFOA levels in blood do decline when a person is no longer exposed to PFOA from the environment, but it is a slow process. Scientists estimate that it takes about three years to cut blood levels in half. So for instance a person now testing at 60 parts per billion could expect in three years to have a blood level of 30 parts per billion, and three years after that to have 15 parts per billion, if no longer exposed to PFOA in the environment.
The Health Department’s release also said “physicians with environmental exposure expertise from the Mount Sinai
Hospital in New York City are available by telephone at 1-866-265-6201 to help answer questions you may have about your PFOA blood test result.”[/private]