Read the full article by Trista Talton (Coastal Review)
“It’s been more than six years since the first blood samples were collected from residents in the Cape Fear region participating in a study to measure their exposure to synthetic chemicals being discharged into their drinking water source.
That study, known as the GenX Exposure Study, has since then transitioned to one that will allow researchers to examine potential long-term health effects in hundreds of North Carolinians who for years unknowingly drank water containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Today, a little more than 1,000 residents from a town in the state’s Piedmont and east to the southeastern coast of North Carolina are part of the health study examining how past exposure to PFAS may affect human health.
‘We’ve been measuring cholesterol and thyroid and comprehensive metabolic panels and height and weight and (body mass index) and so we can now look at how things change over time,’ said Jane Hoppin, principal investigator of the GenX Exposure Study and professor at North Carolina State University.” …