Lab Matters Fall 2017 | Page 10

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From that point onward, the feel of village life changed. Wadsworth Center Laboratories confirmed that Hoosick Falls’ public water supply, serviced by an underground aquifer, was laced with about 600 ppt PFOA. The state department of health provided residents with bottled water for drinking and cooking and made plans for water treatment. And an EPA administrator wrote the village mayor, noting PFOA’ s“ extreme persistence in the environment and its toxicity, mobility and bioaccumulation potential.”

Yet, in the midst of this situation, Hoosick Falls was fortunate in one regard. Just 30 miles south in Albany, scientists at the Wadsworth Center, part of the New York State Department of Health( DOH), had been investigating PFCs for many years, looking at levels in wildlife and then newborn screening bloodspots. The scientists knew these emerging, unregulated compounds— associated in some studies with endocrine disruption, developmental problems, testicular cancer, kidney cancer, liver damage and thyroid disease— had raised concerns in other states. And they recognized the value of being able to measure the chemicals in people— part of the science of biomonitoring.

“ If it’ s in the water, and we’ ve been drinking it, are we exposed?”

An important early biomonitoring success story occurred in the late 1970s, when the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’ s( CDC’ s) second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey( NHANES II)— the only US health survey incorporating laboratory testing on blood and urine— included lead testing for the first time. James Pirkle, MD, PhD, director of the Division of Laboratory Sciences( DLS) in CDC’ s National Center for Environmental Health( NCEH) said NHANES II“ showed, unexpectedly, that gasoline lead was a major exposure for children and for adults— a huge finding that we would not have known otherwise.” Soon thereafter, the country began phasing lead out of gasoline.

Today, NHANES tests a nationally representative slice of the population( about 5,000 people / year) for over 300 chemicals, providing critical baseline

The November 2017 launch of the APHL / CDC National Biomonitoring Network( NBN), is envisioned as a a collaboration of biomonitoring laboratories with harmonized test methods and quality management systems that yield comparable data, accuracy and precision.”

or“ background” levels of exposure for US residents, overall. But state biomonitoring efforts to document local background levels and to test for suspected elevated exposures have been little funded and lagging( as have efforts to track health outcomes associated with elevated exposures to determine high-risk exposure levels).

“ Is every state prepared for biomonitoring emergency response?” asked Lovisa Romanoff, MS, deputy director of laboratory sciences at NCEH.“ I would say it depends on what chemical we’ re talking about. Lead, probably yes. PFOA, no. There are not that many labs that measure chemicals like PFOA.”

National health authorities and public health laboratory leaders would like to see this change. Said Pirkle,“ It remains a main priority for me to help expand state biomonitoring programs.”

One step toward that goal is the November 2017 launch of the APHL /

CDC National Biomonitoring Network( NBN), envisioned as a collaboration of biomonitoring laboratories with harmonized test methods and quality management systems that yield comparable data, accuracy and precision.

Although the network has yet to formally accept laboratory members, it is already seen as a resource to help laboratories plan studies across state lines, exchange lessons learned and access subject matter expertise. So far, the network has workgroups focused on study design, laboratory methods, and the revision and expansion of APHL’ s 2012 Guidance for Laboratory Biomonitoring Programs.

Ultimately, said Pirkle, the NBN will provide“ better opportunities for better science.”

Ken Aldous, PhD, co-chair of the NBN Network Steering Committee and director emeritus of Wadsworth’ s environmental health sciences program, said as soon as Hoosick Falls residents

New Hampshire mailed these postcards to communities to recruit study participants. Photo: NH PHL