Bridging the gap between disparate fields of study, economists and environmentalists at the University of Arizona recently collaborated on a topic relevant to both of them: PFAS contamination.
In a new study, the interdisciplinary team calculated that PFAS-contamination in drinking water costs the contiguous U.S. at least $8 billion a year in social costs by worsening infant health via pregnant mothers’ exposure.
For the paper published in PNAS, the team studied all births in New Hampshire from 2010 to 2019, focusing on mothers living near PFAS-contaminated sites. The data showed that mothers receiving water from wells considered downstream of PFAS-contaminated sites had worse infant health when compared with mothers receiving water from upstream wells, including:
- higher first-year infant mortality
- more preterm births, including more births before 28 weeks
- more births with infants weighing less than 5.5 pounds, including more births with weights less than even 2.2 pounds.
Extrapolating New Hampshire data to the contiguous U.S., the researchers concluded PFAS contamination imposes costs of at least $8 billion on babies born each year. That number encompasses medical care, long-term health impacts and reduced lifetime earnings.
“We found really substantial impacts on infant health, which expanded on what others before us had found,” said study author and economics professor Ashley Langer. “What we then do is calculate how these negative birth outcomes follow these children throughout their lives. The numbers we found represent the lowest end of the economic impact—we suspect it is even more.”
The number is so high that the researchers say it would be more cost-effective to remove PFAS from drinking water—a tall task in and of itself—than have it continue to negatively impact pregnant mothers and babies through their lifetime.
This study specifically focused on two long-chain PFAS, PFOA and PFOS, both of which are no longer manufactured in the U.S. However, they remain in soils, thus still percolating into groundwater. With legislation against these two common PFAS, the study authors note it’s critical to keep an eye on any new PFAS that emerge in their absence for short- and long-term unintended consequences.