WILMINGTON — A local community group is expressing frustration that the state’s health agency did not apply for a recently-announced $7-million CDC grant program to study the effects of PFAS, including GenX. The health agency responded it reviewed the grant, but found it wasn’t a good fit – noting several other PFAS-related efforts being taken at the state level.
Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) announced the start of a multi-site health program to investigate the relationship between per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water and human health. The program included seven awards of $1 million each to institutions and groups around the country.
Those recipients were:
- Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, to look at exposures in El Paso County, CO
- Michigan State Department of Health and Human Services to look at exposures in Parchment/Cooper Township, MI, and North Kent County, MI
- RTI International and the Pennsylvania Department of Health to look at exposures in Montgomery and Bucks Counties, PA
- Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences – School of Public Health to look at exposures in Gloucester County, NJ
- Silent Spring Institute to look at exposures in Hyannis, MA, and Ayer, MA
- University at Albany, SUNY and New York State Department of Health to look at exposures in Hoosick Falls, NY, and Newburgh, NY
- University of California – Irvine to look at exposures in communities near the UC Irvine Medical Center
Apparently, no applications were submitted on behalf of Wilmington or Fayetteville, two regions hit hard by decades of contamination from DuPont — and later Chemours – from the Fayetteville Works facility, which produces a range of PFAS products and byproducts.
The omission surprised some, as North Carolina has the third-highest rate of PFAS exposure nationwide, as East Carolina University professor and toxicologist Dr. Jamie DeWitt told at a PFAS conference funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Science (NIEHS).
Concerns that Wilmington wasn’t included
Last year, the GenX Exposure Study, funded by the NIEHS-funded NC State University’s Center for Human Health and the Environment, showed four PFAS chemicals in the majority of Wilmington residents’ blood. Residents had considerably higher levels of certain PFAS, including double the level of PFOS and triple the level of PFOA.
Clean Cape Fear, a community grouped founded to address contamination and government regulations concerns in the wake of revelations about GenX and other PFAS in the Cape Fear River, was particularly vocal on the issue. Co-founder Emily Donovan called the lack of North Carolina applications “heartbreaking,” saying: “A quarter of a million residents downstream of DuPont/Chemours exposed us to dangerous levels of toxic PFAS for decades and our data will not be added to this nationwide study….our participation in this study would have added valuable information to the nation’s understanding of human PFAS exposure.”
Donovan said that Wilmington and Fayetteville could provide researchers the opportunity to study ongoing PFAS exposure, something some other sites did not. She also noted that there is little or no toxicological data on most PFAS, including the four chemical byproducts identified in the blood of Wilmington residents: Nafion byproduct 2, PFO4DA, PFO5DoDA, and Hydro-EVE, all thought to be linked to manufacturing processes at the Chemours facility. This makes it difficult for residents and their healthcare providers to anticipate and screen for the possible effects of these chemicals.
Donovan called on the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to take a more proactive role and to make sure more research attention is given to PFAS in the Wilmington area and around North Carolina, as well as work to help secure more grant funding to make that possible.
Department of Health and Human Services’ response, other efforts
DHHS said it was aware of the grant program, but that it was inappropriate for the agency.
[Editor’s note: The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality stated that it was not the appropriate agency for studies on health effects, noting any such questions would be for NCDHSS.]
Asked why DHHS did not partner with research facilities — as state health departments did for grants awarded in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York — DHHS noted that attempts were made to team up with researchers but ultimately the one interested prospect fell through.
“State health departments are typically not structured or staffed to conduct research, which is why we rely on strong partnerships with research organizations for these efforts. In North Carolina, we are fortunate to have many world-class academic partners. When this funding opportunity was announced, we contacted researchers at multiple academic centers and research institutions to share the announcement and offer support and partnership if they were able to apply. Researchers at one academic center initially indicated that they would submit a proposal but ultimately decided not to due to limited capacity,” according to spokesperson Kelly Haight Connor.
DHHS acknowledged the concern over involving Wilmington-area — and North Carolina residents in general — in ongoing PFAS research.
“It is important to recognize that any knowledge gained from the current study will inform our work and help address the questions being asked by North Carolina residents. We are deeply concerned about the PFAS exposures in our state and we are devoting significant time and resources to following this issue closely and sharing emerging knowledge” Connor said.
DHHS also noted several other efforts being conducted by the agency to further PFAS research, including applying for other CDC grants.
“In spring 2019, DHHS applied for a competitive CDC grant to start a statewide biomonitoring program. Communities contaminated by PFAS were a focus in our proposal. Our application scored well but ultimately we were not one of the six states funded. We are looking for other opportunities to resubmit this proposal or develop similar efforts to better understand the PFAS exposures and potential health effects occurring in our state,” Connor said.
Connor pointed to a number of other ongoing efforts that DHHS is involved in.
- Supporting the NIH applications and serving on the Community Science Advisory Panel for the GenX Exposure Studies led by North Carolina State University.
- Working with the PFAST Network to address local health department questions and concerns regarding testing of public water supplies.
- Completing investigations into the prevalence of certain types of cancer and birth defects in the Lower Cape Fear Region.
- Working with the Cumberland and Bladen County Health Departments and the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to test for GenX and other PFAS in blood and urine samples from approximately 30 residents living close to the Fayetteville Works facility.
- Reviewing available toxicity information about GenX to develop the provisional health goal of 140 parts per trillion for GenX in drinking water and continuing to review new scientific information on this topic.
- Providing extensive information to the NC Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board for their review and recommendations, including benchmark dose modeling for selected toxicity endpoints.
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