It is estimated that since the 1960s, thousands of new chemical compounds have been developed and dispersed into the environment, making dangerous exposure more likely.
Once a person is exposed to a chemical, it can impact virtually every system in the body, resulting in toxic effects that can cause permanent damage and can be reversible.
Fluoroalkyls are generally water-soluble and hence very mobile in the environment. Carried by rain, they can penetrate the ground and reach water wells beyond the original location where they were lost to the ground, termed a source area, affecting immense volumes of groundwater resources.
Moreover, almost half of the American population relies on groundwater as a supply of drinking water. These chemicals have been designated as possible carcinogens based on epidemiological evidence linking PFAS exposure to a wide range of serious diseases, some of which can occur at very low levels of exposure.
It has been demonstrated that some synthetic chemicals induce carcinoma of the exocrine pancreas in experimental animals following systemic administration, and several epidemiologic studies suggest that chemical carcinogens, including PFAS, may induce pancreatic cancer in humans.
A study by the U.S. National Toxicology Program on perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA - a type of PFAS, and pancreatic cancer suggests 0.1 parts per trillion safety threshold for drinking water. Exposure of mice to PFOA for 7 days triggered oxidative stress in the pancreas - a condition known to promote cancer progression.
When the researchers advanced a dose-response analysis, they observed that pancreatic tumors developed even at extremely low concentrations of PFOA, suggesting that the lifetime human exposure limit for this type of PFAS should be 700 times lower than the current EPA health advisory level. According to a summary of the experiment, the male rats that were exposed to PFOA developed pancreatic tumors, both cancerous and non-cancerous.
We highly recommend you to follow your state's water testing guidelines, and if you are near a contaminated site, or have a specific concern, then have the water tested by a certified laboratory.
If you've been exposed to PFAS-containing foam as a military firefighter and diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, you may be entitled to significant financial compensation. Contact Atraxia Law today to learn more about your legal options.