environmental health
in community members who were not
tested. These PFAS Exposure Assessment
Technical Tools can be requested by
sending an email to [email protected].
directly or through assisting state and
federal partners. Additionally, NCEH/
ATSDR initiated a federal inter-agency
PFAS coordination group to identify
expertise, share current research and
identify resources needed to understand
the health impact of PFAS exposure.
Through epidemiologic investigations
with partners, NCEH/Division of
Laboratory Science (DLS) provides
technical assistance to understand the
extent of PFAS exposure and potential
health effect s. For example, NCEH/DLS
partners with local and state public
health laboratories participating in the
Laboratory Response Network Chemical
Section (LRN-C) to support quality
assurance, materials and training for
chemical threat emergency programs in
local jurisdictions. LRN-C instruments
and staff were utilized in a PFAS exposure
incident in Hoosick Falls, NY. Supported
by NCEH/DLS, LRN-C staff at the New
York State Department of Health were
able to develop a high-throughput
method to measure serum levels of
perfluorooctanoic acid and quickly assess
the PFAS exposure of over 3,000 residents.
ATSDR and state health partners are
investigating exposure to and possible
health effects associated with PFAS
in more than 30 communities across
the United States (see map). Currently
most sites are related to drinking
water contamination connected
with PFAS production facilities or
firefighting training areas that regularly
used aqueous film-forming foam.
ATSDR has connected with community
groups interested in PFAS through
numerous public meetings across the
country. In response, NCEH/ATSDR
developed educational materials for
communities with questions about
PFAS exposures and prepared guidance
for clinicians for responding to patient
exposure concerns. The agency is now
considering how best to design a health
study on PFAS. The NCEH laboratory
is involved in many collaborative
studies with partners, and provides
technical assistance to understand the
extent of PFAS exposure and potential
health effects from such exposures for
these epidemiologic investigations.
PFAS Activities at EPA
NCEH/ATSDR has also prepared a
statistically-based, practical approach for
assessing potential community exposures
to PFAS and estimating serum PFAS levels
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
APHL has been informed of various EPA
efforts surrounding PFAS, but one project
in particular is of note. Seven APHL
member laboratories have volunteered
to be part of an EPA PFAS method
validation study. EPA has developed a
liquid chromatography tandem mass
spectrometry method for waters other
than finished drinking water. The
preliminary internal validation has been
completed and EPA is now proceeding
APHL.org
with an external validation to confirm
the accuracy and precision of the method
for 24 PFAS analytes in ground, surface
and waste waters. Work will likely begin
spring 2018 with 5-8 public and private
laboratories participating in the study.
PFAS Activities at APHL
Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS):
Nevertheless, They Persist will be one of
the PFAS-related sessions at APHL’s
Annual Meeting on Saturday, June 2 from
4-5:30pm PT. PFAS were a topic of great
interest at APHL’s recent Environmental
Health and Environmental Laboratory
Sciences Committees meeting, one
the committees will keep tabs on in
coming years. And PFAS were a hot
topic at the National Meeting of State
Biomonitoring Programs in December,
hosted at the New Jersey Department
of Health, where state public health
laboratorians and epidemiologists
presented on cutting edge biomonitoring
work, such as the study outlined here. n
DIGITAL EXTRA:
To prepare your laboratory for PFAS
testing, email [email protected]
Winter 2018 LAB MATTERS
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