Health Department study: North Kent County residents have high PFAS contamination in blood

The levels of "forever chemicals" known as PFAS in tested North Kent County residents' blood are higher than national averages — and the more unfiltered well water they drank contaminated with the nonstick compounds, the higher their blood contamination, the results of a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services exposure assessment found.

The findings, released by the state health department late Friday, confirm what many who live near a PFAS-using Rockford shoe manufacturer long suspected — that their PFAS-contaminated drinking water wells contributed to them having excessive PFAS exposures in their bodies. But the larger question they still hope is addressed — whether their exposures have led to increased cancer or other PFAS-connected illnesses — has not yet been answered by public health officials.

"I probably could have saved the state thousands of dollars and said we're going to be higher (in PFAS contamination) than anybody else. But I guess it's what you have to do when you are doing research," said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, a Belmont resident whose home was across the street from a former Wolverine Worldwide Inc. landfill. The Rockford-based shoe manufacturer used PFAS compounds for many years for their water-resistant qualities.Wynn-Stelt and her husband, Joel, moved into their House Street home in 1992, unaware that the picturesque Christmas tree farm across the road used to be a landfill where Wolverine dumped its PFAS-laden industrial sludges.

Joel died of liver cancer in March 2016, only a few weeks after being diagnosed.

In 2017, Wynn-Stelt learned from health officials testing her residential well that it contained PFAS levels up to 76,000 parts per trillion. Wynn-Stelt's blood concentrations for the compounds were at one point 750 times that of the average American.

Low concentrations may carry health implications

State health department spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin said the agency is conducting more studies to research health outcomes that may be linked to the high PFAS levels in drinking water found in the Belmont and Rockford area of northern Kent County and several locations near Kalamazoo, including Cooper Township, the city of Parchment and Richland.

Wynn-Stelt welcomed that news.

"If we only did this to find out we have more PFAS in our blood, I want my money back," she said.

Public health officials initiated the North Kent County Exposure Assessment following a 2016 finding of PFAS in some North Kent County residents' residential wells of up to 50,000 parts per trillion or more, in areas near former known Wolverine waste disposal sites.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working on a national drinking water regulation for several PFAS compounds, but in an interim updated health advisory in 2022 found that "some negative health effects may occur" from exposure to two of the most commonly identified PFAS compounds, known as PFOS and PFOA, "with concentrations ... in water that are near zero and below EPA’s ability to detect at this time."

According to state health department officials, households located north of Grand Rapids with residential wells were eligible for the study if their wells had documented PFAS levels. The department held clinics from November 2018 to June 2019 to measure the amount of PFAS in the blood of residents in these areas, and collected exposure information using a survey.

Some 1,783 private drinking water wells in northern Kent County were tested for PFAS by September 2018. Of those, 982 were identified as contaminated with PFAS compounds, with 299 having detections of total PFAS over 70 parts per trillion, the EPA's previous lifetime health advisory level set in 2016 that's now being reconsidered due to its inadequacy to protect public health.

More: PFAS contamination is Michigan's biggest environmental crisis in 40 years

Some 413 residents agreed to provide blood samples, most from households whose wells tested for PFAS at greater than 70 parts per trillion; the rest whose wells had some PFAS but less than 70 parts.

"By multiple measures, serum PFAS concentrations for several PFAS (most notably PFOA, Br-PFOS and PFHxS) were higher among residents in the investigation area with detectable concentrations of PFAS in their private drinking water well than among the general U.S. population," the study states.

Water filtration likely lowered PFAS in blood

The study further found a connection between increasing PFAS concentrations in participants' unfiltered drinking water and how much of it they drank every day, and increasing concentrations in their blood for some, but not all, PFAS. Because exposure mitigation efforts were well underway by the time some affected residents donated blood for analysis, including whole-house water filtration systems installed by Wolverine at the most significantly affected homes, levels of some PFAS compounds that are eliminated from the body more quickly were already reduced or even eliminated by the time of testing, the study notes.

"For most, if not all, participants, exposure was significantly reduced in 2017 and 2018 when whole-house filters were installed, or household members chose to only consume bottled water," the study states.

"This also means that participants' serum PFAS concentrations reported here are not likely the highest they have ever been."

That raises important questions.

"Even if your blood levels have started going lower, is the damage already done? Does that even matter?" Wynn-Stelt said.

"I think there is a ton to this, and this is just a first step."

The study also finds some residents' PFAS blood contamination came from environmental sources other than their drinking water, including a correlation between eating fish caught in lakes, rivers and ponds and higher blood levels.

"That should kind of send a chill through all of us," Wynn-Stelt said.

More: Eating locally caught freshwater fish can put PFAS in human blood, study says

The primary goal of the North Kent County Exposure Assessment was to see whether using contaminated drinking water led to an increase in the concentration of PFAS in the blood of residents in this area, Sutfin said.

"MDHHS will use the findings, including the finding that the use of filters can greatly reduce people's PFAS exposure from contaminated water, as we work with local health departments to recommend or provide filters in other PFAS-impacted communities," she said.

A federal judge in Grand Rapids in March 2023 approved a $54 million class action settlement among Wolverine; 3M, the manufacturer of the PFAS compounds used at the shoe manufacturer, and affected North Kent County residents. Wolverine has also been engaged with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy since 2016 on cleanup efforts at its plant site and in surrounding contaminated ground and water bodies.

State health department representatives will share findings from the latest exposure assessment report and answer questions from the community during two upcoming webinars, at noon and 6 p.m. on Wednesday. To access the virtual meeting, go to Michigan.gov/DEHBio to register for the Zoom webinar in the North Kent County Exposure Assessment section.

 Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: North Kent County residents have more PFAS contamination in blood