ATSDR’s PFAS Exposure Assessments: Results from Communities with Known Past Drinking Water Concentrations Greater than EPA’s Health Advisory

Abstract

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is conducting exposure assessments (EAs) for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in selected communities with known PFAS contamination in drinking water near current or former military installations in the United States. Concentrations of PFAS were measured in serum and urine and exposure information was collected through a questionnaire. Tap water and indoor dust samples from a subset of participant homes were also analyzed for PFAS. These EAs provide the first large scale, multi-site analysis of PFAS body burden in communities with known PFAS concentrations in drinking water above the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) health advisory. ATSDR will complete data collection in June 2020. ATSDR compared aggregate EA concentrations of PFAS in serum and urine to national averages from the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). ATSDR compared tap water concentrations of PFOA and PFOS to EPA’s health advisory. ATSDR presents PFAS concentrations in indoor dust to show the range found in participant homes. There is currently no benchmark to which PFAS dust concentrations can be compared. Biomonitoring results are interpreted using exposure data collected from the questionnaire (drinking water consumption rate, demographics, duration of residence, occupational history, etc.). In this presentation, ATSDR will present and discuss aggregate community-level results for four exposure assessment sites. The preliminary findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry/Centers for Disease Control (ATSDR/CDC). The full manuscript is currently under development and has not yet been approved by ATSDR/CDC.