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PFAS chemicals found in Minnesota city’s water is associated with adverse health conditions

Bemidji City Council approved an incentive program for 19 property owners in the Bardwell Park neighborhood on June 21. To the west of the neighborhood is an area owned by the city with several wells that supply the city system with water.

For more than a decade, the city has known chemicals, commonly known as PFAS (perfluorinated alkylated substances), in the area’s groundwater and later in the wells. The chemicals were previously used in fire extinguishing foams and likely came from the adjacent Bemidji Regional Airport, which was a training ground for local fire departments.

According to a statement by the Minnesota-based company 3M, the developer of the chemicals, the type of PFAS in Bemidji is called AFFF (Aqueous Filmforming Foam). The specific chemical was developed by the United States Navy with support from 3M in the early 1960s.

“It was a critical tool that had an immediate need for our service members who faced life-threatening challenges during live combat and training exercises during the Vietnam War,” 3M said.

The risks posed by PFAS are still being reviewed by health officials and scientists, but studies have been conducted over the past two decades.

A statement from 3M said, “The weight of the scientific evidence from decades of research does not show that PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) or PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) harm people at current or past levels. This includes studies on the monitoring of 3M employees who are typically exposed to higher concentrations of these substances than the general population.

“Public health data support this conclusion,” 3M said. “For example, the Minnesota Department of Health has been tracking PFAS levels in the blood of residents of the East Metropolitan Area since 2008. In February 2018, after a decade of study, MDH released an update on its results, reporting that the overall cancer rate in Washington County was virtually the same as the national average, despite historically elevated levels.

The granulated activated carbon tanks in Bemidji’s new water treatment plant remove PFA chemicals, which are ubiquitous in the environment and do not degrade over time. (Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer)

However, on its website, MDH notes that some studies have linked higher PFAS levels in a person’s body to higher cholesterol levels, changes in liver function, decreased immune response, thyroid disease, and increased kidney and testicular cancers.

“It’s a very large group of chemicals and some of them can accumulate in humans,” said MDH toxicologist Helen Goeden. “As for health effects, we have some information about epidemiological studies. They study people who have been exposed to these compounds. There are challenges in evaluating people because it is not a controlled study and some of the effects we believe related to PFAS, others have. ” Causes.”

The causality of health effects has not yet been proven and was quoted in the 3M communication. As part of its statement, 3M referred to the following quote from the Toxic Substances Agency and Disease Registries of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Although a large number of epidemiological studies have examined the potential of perfluoroalkylenes to cause adverse health effects, studies are cross-sectional in design and do not substantiate any Causality. Based on a number of factors, the available epidemiological studies suggest associations between perfluoroalkyl exposure and several health endpoints. However, no cause-effect relationships were demonstrated for these endpoints. “

Additionally, 3M notes, “While some studies can find links or associations with possible health outcomes, it is not the same as causality.”

According to Goeden, causality is difficult to prove in humans.

“We don’t take people into a controlled environment where they are only exposed to the PFAS compounds. We can’t do these studies,” said Goeden. “Also, some of the health effects like cholesterol are influenced by diet.

“Immunosuppression is one of the effects we have the strongest weight of evidence for because we see it in several epidemiological studies with humans,” said Goeden. “When you see something consistently and repeatedly in different populations and it appears to be associated with the same exposure, it increases the evidential value. It’s like cigarette smoking and lung cancer. It takes a certain amount of evidence before you can get close to saying, ‘We believe these two points are connected.’ “

On the CDC’s website on the subject, the agency explains that while it is difficult to demonstrate that the substances cause health problems in humans, “scientific studies have shown that exposure to some PFAS in the environment is detrimental to the environment Human and animal health can be linked “. . “

According to Goeden, chemicals have the greatest impact when they accumulate over several years.

“When exposed over a long period of time, we have clear evidence that the accumulated chemicals are transmitted through the placenta to a fetus,” said Goeden. “It can also be transmitted through breast milk in infants. As it has accumulated, it can be more meaningful.

In 2000, 3M made the decision to discontinue production of PFAS, including products based on AFFF.

In 2018, the state of Minnesota settled a $ 850 million lawsuit against 3M. The case, opened in 2010, alleged the company’s production of PFAS harmed drinking water and natural resources in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. According to a state-run website, after legal fees, $ 720 million from the settlement will be invested in water projects in the Twin Cities.

During the years of litigation, Bemidji City became aware of new government-set health and environmental standards related to PFAS. In response, the city began exploring options, such as drilling a new well.

Since no suitable alternatives were found, the city built a facility to remove the chemicals pumped from the wells. To support the construction costs, the city was awarded $ 10.19 million by state lawmakers in the form of a 2020 bond bill. Around the same time as the Bond Act was passed in a special session in the fall, the city took legal action against 3M.

An agreement was reached between the city and 3M in March in which the company contributed $ 12.5 million for the treatment facility and associated costs. One of these costs is the incentive program approved by the council.

For the second construction phase, which will be finished by summer 2023, the rear wall of the water treatment plant will be dismantled. (Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer)

Eliminate and monitor

3M said it has “supported the regulation of PFOA and PFOS under the Safe Drinking Water Act, including setting maximum containment levels based on rigorous, reliable science.”

On its website, 3M notes that it has invested more than $ 200 million in global PFAS corrective actions. This includes testing and cleaning in areas where PFAS has been manufactured and disposed of.

“People’s PFOA and PFOS levels are falling,” 3M said. “Reduced exposure to these materials has been demonstrated in a number of studies over the past 15 years that measured these compounds in the blood of the general US population.”

Todd Johnson, an engineer for the MDH’s drinking water protection program, said five municipal systems across the state are actively removing PFAS. Going forward, Johnson said the agency plans to test more Minnesota waters for the chemicals.

“We want all public drinking water in the state to be tested for PFAS,” said Johnson. “We have set ourselves the goal of sampling 90% of them by 2025.”

“As we learned more about these chemicals, our guidelines have changed, which means that more communities are affected,” said Goeden. “Our message is that these are ubiquitous and have been on our radar for some time here in Minnesota. We have spent a lot of resources researching these connections and making sure we are protecting the citizens of the state. “

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