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'Forever Chemicals' NJ Town's Water Center Of Major Study

Researchers at Rutgers University will be studying the long-term health effects of chemicals in a Gloucester County town's contaminated water supply.

Water fountain

Water fountain

Photo Credit: JonasKIM Pixabay

The pollution came from a plastics plant near Paulsboro. Solvay Solexis and Arkema of West Deptford settled a class-action lawsuit to clean up the drinking water believed contaminated back to 1980.

PFAS — which are "forever" chemicals — are man-made chemicals that have been used in industry and manufacturing of consumer products since the 1950s, Rutgers says.

Paulsboro, a town of 6,000 on the Delaware River, recorded the highest rate of one type of PFAS chemical, a perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) before a contaminated well was shuttered in 2014. 

Health impacts of PFNA are less known, however, some studies have shown that PFAS may:

  • Adversely affect growth, learning, and behavior of infants and children
  • Lower a woman’s chance of getting pregnant
  • Interfere with the body’s natural hormones
  • Increase cholesterol levels
  • Affect the immune system
  • Increase the risks for some cancers

Nearly a dozen regions nationwide will be studied in an effort led by the Centers for Disease Control. A different study will measure the effect of water on humans in 11 townships in Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania, primarily near military bases.

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