Toxic Exposures
Prenatal Exposure to PFAS Tied to ‘Measurable’ Changes in Children’s Brains
Scandinavian researchers found strong associations between different PFAS exposures among pregnant mothers and different aspects of their children’s brain structure years later, Aaron Barron, Ph.D., lead author of a study in The Lancet Planetary Health, told The Defender.
A mother’s exposure to “forever chemicals” during pregnancy is linked to measurable changes in her child’s brain by age 5, new research shows.
The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, is the first to comprehensively examine the link between maternal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and structural and functional changes in children’s brains.
The researchers found strong associations between different PFAS exposures among pregnant mothers and different aspects of their children’s brain structure years later, lead author Aaron Barron, Ph.D., told The Defender.
Changes included reduced volumes in different brain regions and changes in functional connectivity patterns across the brain.
The three major regions of the brain affected were the corpus callosum, the brain’s largest white matter tract, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain; the occipital cortex, responsible for vision and visual processing; and the hypothalamus, which regulates hormone levels and metabolism.
They found impacts even at low levels of exposure.
PFAS are endocrine-disrupting chemicals routinely used in a wide range of consumer products — from cleaning products to cosmetics to cookware. The chemicals persist in the environment and can accumulate in humans and animals.
PFAS chemicals have been linked to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, decreased immunity, hormone disruption and a range of other serious health problems.
Most people today have been chronically exposed to PFAS for years, according to the study.
“This study painfully portrays how we must live in the toxic environment we create,” said Children’s Health Defense Senior Research Scientist Karl Jablonowski, who was not involved with the study.
“Interfering with brain development is often irreversible. PFAS are everywhere, ubiquitously present in pregnancies around the world. This study suggests that our pollution is having an effect on brain development across the human species.”
Results are ‘very interesting and potentially quite alarming’
Jablonowski said the technology to identify PFAS contamination is still in its infancy, which is why major studies examining the effects are recent. Recent research has found links between PFAS and brain development issues, including autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.
Some previous studies also found associations between maternal exposures and brain structure when examining limited portions of children’s brains.
To further test this link, Barron and his team of Scandinavian researchers measured PFAS compounds in blood samples taken from a cohort of over 50 pregnant mothers at 24 weeks of pregnancy.
They followed up with their children five years later, using MRI techniques to measure brain structure, white matter pathways and connectivity across different regions of the brain.
Barron called the multiple changes in brain structure that they identified “very interesting and potentially quite alarming.”
Because the research was a population-based cohort study, the women who participated weren’t outliers who had unusually high levels of PFAS exposure. Their exposures were typical of most people.
“But even at these low levels, PFAS were strongly and linearly associated with brain structure — which means that the potential effects of PFAS on brain development are not only relevant for the minority of the population with very high PFAS exposure, but for everyone,” Barron said.
‘Clear mechanism by which maternal PFAS can get to the fetal brain’
Barron cautioned that his study did not prove causality. To do that would require experiments that are not really possible to do in humans, he said.
“But the associations are convincing,” particularly combined with other research that has shown PFAS can pass through the placenta to the baby, can cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in the brain, and directly affect how neurons and neural stem cells can grow and mature.
“So there is a clear mechanism by which maternal PFAS can get to the fetal brain and cause changes that lead to the kinds of associations we observe,” he said.
There’s no immediate lifestyle change pregnant women can make to reduce their PFAS levels in the blood, he said. But pregnant women shouldn’t worry right now, or jump to conclusions, in part because there is nothing that can be done during pregnancy to address the problem.
“With PFAS, it’s not the case that some people have them and some don’t — they are in pretty much everyone’s blood. They build up very slowly over years and typically only leave the body very slowly, too,” he said.
He added that it is important for people to be aware of the detrimental effects, “but if worrying excessively about them during pregnancy leads to high levels of maternal stress, then this can also have negative consequences for the developing child.”
Barron said he would be skeptical about recommending any major lifestyle or policy changes based on a single study.
“But we should be talking about PFAS — there is increasing evidence that they are detrimental to our health, and our study simply adds to this,” he said.
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Which PFAS compounds carry the highest risk? We don’t know yet.
Even though some PFAS have begun to be regulated, “they will continue to persist in the environment, and they are still present in almost everybody’s blood,” Barron said. “We should continue to educate people about these chemicals and find ways to remove them from the environment.”
Because the chemicals are present in every mother’s blood, “every brain develops in the presence of PFAS,” and that information must be integrated into current understanding of normal brain development, he said.
That fact may not be a catastrophe, the researchers cautioned.
“It’s important to remember that just because the brain looks ‘different,’ this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s worse, and hopefully new research will demonstrate whether these brain structural changes are genuinely harmful or not for a child,” Barron said.
The researchers underscored the need for longer-term follow-up and replication of their findings in other populations. They also said further research should examine whether these early brain changes translate into measurable educational, social or behavioral impacts later in childhood.
They called for an investigation into which specific PFAS compounds carry the highest risk, how exposure timing matters and what mitigation strategies can reduce maternal-fetal transfer.
Related articles in The Defender- PFAS Chemicals May Weaken Kids’ Immune Systems
- PFAS Found in Sludge Used as Fertilizer Can Contaminate Milk, Eggs and Meat
- PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Linked to Cancer, Birth Defects — And They’re Everywhere
- PFAS in U.S. Food Supply a Growing Concern, Study Finds
- PFAS Is a Big Problem. EPA’s Plan to Deal With It Is Too Small.
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