Blood samples taken from 288 newborns in Kallinge between 1985-2013 have been analyzed and compared with blood samples from newborns in other parts of Blekinge.
"We found that children whose mothers were exposed to contaminated water before their pregnancy had elevated levels of PFAS in their blood as early as 1985. Previously, we believed that the emissions started around 1985, but these new results suggest that the contamination began even earlier," says Annelise Blomberg, assistant researcher in occupational and environmental medicine in a press release from Lund University.
It was discovered in 2013 that the drinking water in Kallinge had high levels of PFAS. The contamination came from firefighting foam used in firefighting exercises at the F17 regiment.
The study, which was conducted on blood samples from Sweden's national PKU biobank, shows that the PFAS levels reached their peak in 2007. The researchers plan to later examine blood samples from children born even earlier to get an answer to when the population in Kallinge began to be exposed to PFAS through the water.
The Supreme Court has previously ruled that high levels of PFAS in the blood can be seen as a personal injury and that it should therefore be possible to seek damages if the cause is contaminated drinking water.
