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High levels of new cancer-causing 'forever chemicals' found in more Americans' blood READ MORE: High PFAS in water tied to 70% greater cancer, pregnancy risks By CASSIDY MORRISON, US SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER Published: 13:48 EDT, 27 October 2025 | Updated: 17:04 EDT, 27 October 2025 Residents of a North Carolina town were found to have concerningly high levels of 'forever chemicals' that have been linked to cancer and infertility. Blood testing from residents of Wilmington, North Carolina, which sits on the Cape Fear River Basin, revealed high levels of compounds that have been overlooked by both researchers and regulators. The river basin is an ecosystem contaminated with PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ due to industrial discharge from the nearby Chemours (formerly DuPont) Fayetteville Works plant, a pollution problem that began in the 1980s. undefinedundefined Full Screen (F) Pause (SPACE) Read More (Shift + O) ?lit$863490614$? Continue watchingafter the adVisit Advertiser websiteGO TO PAGE PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals that are nearly impossible to avoid. They are found all over the country in common items like food packaging, drinking water and household products. They are known as 'forever chemicals' because they do not break down naturally in the environment or the body. When they get into drinking water or soil, they can enter the food supply. Once ingested, they accumulate in the body's tissues and blood over time, where they can persist for years. Chronic PFAS exposure harms vital systems by disrupting hormones, damaging the liver and kidneys, and straining the heart, leading to increased risks of cancer, organ damage and cardiovascular disease, as well as reproductive complications. Found in 20 percent of residents' blood samples was a PFAS substance called GenX, which historically drew the most public attention when the contamination was revealed in 2017. However, the Cape Fear River Basin's drinking water, which serves about 500,000 people, contained high levels of more dangerous forever chemicals, including TFA and PFMOAA. Long-term PFAS exposure disrupts hormones and damages vital organs, raising the risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease and permanent damage to the liver and kidneys (stock) Bryan Johnson reveals the new devices he's wearing to prevent dementia 502 viewing now I thought I had dementia.. but this was the real cause of my nightmare 9.6k viewing now The $5 food to eat every day to lose weight without Ozempic 1.5k viewing now What was particularly concerning to the researchers was that two ultrashort-chain PFAS, perfluoromethoxyacetic acid (PFMOAA) and trifluoracetic acid (TFA), were detected at high levels in almost every blood sample. The results were surprising because, until recently, these tiny compounds were not believed to build up in the body due to their unique chemical structures. Experts warn 100million Americans' tap water laced with PFAS... is your neighborhood at risk? Researchers analyzed 119 archived blood samples from residents of Wilmington, collected over the six-year period from 2010 to 2016. In these samples, they measured a total of 56 different PFAS compounds, and also tested for 47 PFAS in local water samples to identify the source of exposure. Blood test results revealed that the residents were widely exposed to a complex mixture of PFAS, with 34 different types detected. Ten of those compounds were found in nearly every person. Several specific PFAS dominated the contamination profile in people's blood, with five compounds appearing in 90 to 97 percent of samples: TFA, PFMOAA, PFOS, PFOA and PFPrA. All of those compounds are known to disrupt hormone balances, increase the risk of certain cancers and affect pregnant women and their unborn babies. Blood samples were taken from residents of Wilmington, NC, a community downstream of the Fayetteville Works plant, a known source of PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River since the 1980s Researchers also concluded that concentrations of the ultrashort-chain and other specific types linked to the Fayetteville Works facility in people's blood did not decrease over time. Blood was tested over six years. While older PFAS like PFOA and PFOS decreased, newer ones such as TFA and PFMOAA remained at high, stable levels. The stable PFAS concentrations in blood signaled constant, long-term exposure, indicating that Wilmington residents were being contaminated for years before the chemicals were first found in the water. The same PFAS that dominated residents' blood were also the most prevalent in the finished drinking water. They tested Cape Fear River water from upstream and downstream of the Fayetteville Works plant, including Wilmington's drinking water supply. The 2017 sampling confirmed the PFAS came directly from the plant's discharge and not from the breakdown of other chemicals in the water over time. TFA and PFMOAA were among the most commonly found toxins in the water, with TFA accounting for 70 percent of total PFAS in water samples at a concentration of 110,000 nanograms per liter (ng/L). PFMOAA had a concentration of 38,000 ng/L. There is no federally enforced safe limit for TFA or PFMOAA in the US, not because any amount is safe, but because updated science has not been translated into updated regulation. The pie charts compare the composition of PFAS found in Wilmington residents' blood (left) to the composition in their finished drinking water (right). A few specific compounds, particularly PFMOAA and TFA, dominated both the human exposure and the water contamination Detlef Knappe, professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at North Carolina State and co-corresponding author of the study, said: ‘For reference, one European guideline recommends a drinking water level of 2200 ng/L for TFA. Our sample contained over 50 times that concentration.’ Their findings were published Monday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. PFMOAA has been shown in animal studies to cause liver and developmental damage, similar to older, well-understood PFAS like PFOA. And while PFMOAA is slightly less toxic per unit, the amount found in Wilmington residents' blood was seven times higher than PFOA, indicating that, despite their small size, these ultrashort-chain PFAS are likely contributing substantially to the overall health risk from PFAS exposure. The level of TFA in Wilmington's drinking water was nearly 50 times higher than a health-based safety limit established in the Netherlands. There has been an assumption that shorter-chain PFAS, such as TFA, pose a lower health risk. However, their extreme pervasiveness means people are now chronically exposed to them at higher concentrations than many longer-chain PFAS. There has been a major lack of research into its long-term health effects. Only recently have studies begun to show that TFA can cause harm, including severe birth defects in rabbits and liver damage in rats. North Carolina Share or comment on this article: High levels of new cancer-causing 'forever chemicals' found in more Americans' blood Add comment
