Younger veterans more likely to have elevated levels of ‘forever chemicals,’ study finds

Younger veterans are substantially more likely to have dangerous levels of toxic “forever chemicals” in their blood than non-veterans the same age, a nationally representative study reported this week.

The study was led by researchers from Brown and Harvard Universities in New England and published Monday in the academic journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Among 20- to 39-year-olds, 52% of veterans — about 1.8 million people — exceeded the threshold of 20 nanograms per milliliter, compared with 30% of civilians, the study found.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recommends medical follow-up for people whose levels exceed that threshold because PFAS exposure has been associated with health problems including kidney and testicular cancers, as well as ulcerative colitis.

The data stops short of definitively connecting PFAS exposure to military service, but does show that people who serve are more likely to be impacted, researchers said.

“There’s something very specific about being a veteran that makes you much more likely to have these elevated concentrations compared to civilians,” one of the study’s co-authors, Christian Hoover, told Stars and Stripes on Thursday. Hoover recommended that young veterans speak to their doctors about getting PFAS blood testing, so exposures can be documented.

The study analyzed 15 years of publicly available survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Researchers applied national survey weights to the sample to produce estimates representative of more than 200 million U.S. adults.

PFAS, or human-made per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are long-lasting chemicals used to make products resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease and water. They are also found in firefighting foam historically used at U.S. military bases worldwide. PFOS and PFOA are two common types.

There is sufficient evidence that PFAS causes cancer in lab animals and limited evidence that PFOA causes testicular and kidney cancer, according to the World Health Organization. They are called “forever chemicals” because they break down slowly and can stay in both the environment and the human body for long periods of time.

The data show that approximately 58% of all U.S. veterans were above the 20 nanograms per milliliter threshold, versus 36% of their civilian counterparts, which equates to roughly 13 million veterans, according to the study.

After accounting for factors like race, ethnicity and age, veterans were 1.8 times more likely than civilians to have elevated PFAS concentrations in their blood, Hoover said.

PFAS can be excreted from the body over time through urine or blood and have a half-life between 1.5 and 8 years, depending on the compound, Hoover said. That may explain why older veterans had lower concentrations of PFAS than their younger counterparts.

Researchers found no difference between veterans over 40 and the civilian population, Hoover said. The half-life is the time it takes for blood concentrations to decrease by half.

Female veterans, who accounted for only 6.5% of the veteran sample, were 37% less likely than civilian women to have elevated PFAS levels.

More study is needed to determine why female veterans had lower levels, Hoover said. Veterans may encounter PFAS through numerous sources, including contaminated water, burn pits and possibly heat-resistant products, he said. Differences in occupation and where veterans served could also account for the divergence.

“Groundwater contamination is one of probably many different sources, and we aren’t clear on those from this study alone,” Hoover said.

Health insurance provided by the Veterans Health Administration does not cover blood tests for PFAS and the tests are not currently available at Veterans Affairs medical centers, Hoover said.

The VA did not respond to questions about the study’s findings, whether veterans should be tested or Hoover’s comments. A VA spokesperson, Quinn Slaven, said that VA physicians can order PFAS testing through commercial lab partners when “deemed medically necessary.”

“I think it is important that the VA consider expanding testing at VA facilities and through the VHA coverage,” Hoover said. “This is an enormous oversight and of great concern to this group.”