These Everyday Toxics May Be Hurting Pregnant Women and Their Babies

"PFAS, industrial chemicals used to waterproof jackets and grease-proof fast-food containers, may disrupt pregnancy with lasting effects."

"Nikki Aldrich can’t talk about what happened in their bucolic riverside village without crying. “She lets me do the talking,” said her mother, Loreen Hackett.

Hackett and her daughter’s family live in Hoosick Falls, New York, where residents learned in 2016 that for years — including while Aldrich was carrying her first two children — they’d been drinking water contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, a toxic chemical that a local factory once used to make Teflon products.

When Hackett and her daughter’s family had their PFOA blood levels checked by the state, they were shocked by the results. Blood levels for her grandson, then 6, and granddaughter, who was 4, were both more than 50 times the national average of roughly 2 parts per billion for kids and adults. They now both suffer from illnesses that studies have linked to PFOA or similar chemicals, Hackett said."

Liza Gross reports for the New York Times September 23, 2020.

SEE ALSO:

Part 1: "This Chemical Can Impair Fertility, but It’s Hard to Avoid" (New York Times)

"The 3 Scariest Chemicals to Watch Out For in Your Home" (New York Times)

Source: NYTimes, 09/24/2020