New North Carolina PFAS exposure findings as Chemours plans expansion
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Scientists detected high levels of two under-the-radar PFAS chemicals in blood serum samples from residents of Wilmington, North Carolina, collected before the local fluorochemical manufacturing plant began taking measures in 2017 to halt the flow of “forever chemicals” into the community’s drinking water.
The study, published October 27 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, adds to growing concerns that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) consisting of shorter chains of carbon atoms don’t actually offer a safe alternative to the longer-chain PFAS chemicals they often replace, and comes as the chemical company Chemours seeks permission from state regulators to expand PFAS production at the Fayetteville Works facility, the plant that contaminated Wilmington’s water. The company also applied last spring for a wastewater discharge permit that would allow it to continue releasing so-called “ultra-short chain” PFAS, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC).
Separate from the new study, recent tests commissioned by environmental and human health groups reveal “extremely high” levels of ultra-short chain PFAS from Chemours in drinking water that serves over 500,000 North Carolina residents, the SELC announced Friday.
The new findings come after years of outrage over Wilmington residents’ decades-long exposure to PFAS in their drinking water. In 2017, it was first reported that the PFAS chemical GenX made at the Fayetteville Works facility was contaminating the Cape Fear River that supplies Wilmington’s drinking water system, which served an estimated 250,000 people at the time. It emerged that Chemours and its predecessor, DuPont, had been discharging GenX and other types of PFAS into the Cape Fear River since 1980.
Today, the community’s drinking water is treated for PFAS, with Chemours voluntarily limiting its GenX-containing wastewater discharges into the river starting in June 2017 and ceasing to discharge wastewater into the river by November the same year, according to the company. A 2019 consent order with the state, expanded upon by a 2020 order, requires Chemours to take steps to “significantly reduce” PFAS discharges to the air, water and soil, although the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority still detects these chemicals in untreated water from the river.
“A huge part of people’s burden”
The new study measured 56 PFAS chemicals in 119 adult blood serum samples collected between 2010 and 2016, before the public knew its water was contaminated, finding trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and perfluoromethoxyacetic acid (PFMOAA) at the highest concentrations – 17 parts per billion (ppb) and 42 ppb, respectively. More than three-quarters of serum samples contained TFA, while almost all contained PFMOAA. These were also the dominant types of PFAS found in Wilmington drinking water samples from 2017, the researchers found.
TFA and PFMOAA “are a huge part of people’s burden that we were unable to assess in November of 2017,” said Jane Hoppin, an author of the new study and a professor at the Center for Human Health and the Environment at North Carolina State University. She added that newer analytic methods make it possible to measure smaller PFAS chemicals than older methods could detect.
There is limited research on how the two chemicals may affect human health. TFA, which is a breakdown product of some new refrigerants, has increasingly come under scrutiny, with animal studies pointing to liver toxicity and possible harms for developing embryos. PFMOAA is a byproduct of chemical production that has been linked to elevated cholesterol and other health effects in newborn rats.
The river’s PFMOAA contamination “absolutely” came from the Fayetteville plant, said Hoppin, with May 2017 levels of the chemical upriver from the facility measured at just around 5 parts per trillion (ppt) compared to over a million ppt downriver from the facility. While the findings suggest the facility also contributed TFA to the river, it appears the river also contained TFA from other sources, said Hoppin.
The team also identified GenX, in about 20% of blood samples – a surprisingly small number that could point to variable levels of GenX in the water over time, said Hoppin. DuPont began using GenX in 2009 to replace perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) for making Teflon, a compound used in nonstick pans, medical devices and other products. PFOA has been linked to numerous health problems, classified as carcinogenic to humans by an international cancer research group, and has been banned by the international Stockholm Convention since 2019.
GenX, however, has been linked to liver, kidney, and immune system problems and described as a “regrettable substitute.” The chemical is among four types of PFAS for which the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Trump has said it would rescind drinking water limits.
Hoppin is also a principal investigator on the GenX Exposure Study, which began in November 2017 to measure exposure to GenX and other PFAS chemicals in the Cape Fear River basin and health implications for residents, some of whom drank water contaminated by the Fayetteville Works plant for decades. While Hoppin and colleagues had not found GenX in blood samples from Wilmington residents during previous investigations, they had found other PFAS chemicals unique to the Chemours plant in samples from over 1,000 residents.
In a revised air permit application submitted in August, following a January 2024 version, Chemours seeks permission from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to expand its production of vinyl ethers – compounds used to make electronics, adhesives and plastics that include PFAS compounds made using GenX. Human and environmental health advocates fear the move will continue the company’s troubled legacy in the region.
“With Chemours seeking a permit to keep polluting, while also asking for permission to expand its toxic chemical manufacturing, DEQ must hold Chemours accountable,” Jean Zhuang, senior attorney at SELC, said in a statement. “After decades of toxic waste and hundreds of millions spent by communities to clean up the mess, the burden belongs squarely on Chemours and must not fall on North Carolina families.”
Featured image: A dam on the the Cape Fear River above Wilmington, North Carolina. (Credit: Bud Davis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.)
