A group of seven researchers from Universitat Roviria i Virgili in Spain, with funding from the Center for Truth in Science, recently published an article reviewing, summarizing, and commenting on studies describing health effects of PFAS, and then proposing a framework for evaluating potential risks from PFAS. The studies addressed in the review include several used as “principal studies” by regulators in the US, Canada, and the EU in establishing regulatory or guidance levels for various PFAS.

The article also identifies several shortcomings in existing research that increase the difficulty of evaluating the health risk of PFAS: 1) current studies typically assess the health effects of individual PFAS chemicals as opposed to co-exposures to various PFAS chemicals; 2) variability in study population groups adds uncertainty to reach conclusions about available data; and 3) a lack of standard protocols for epidemiological and animal studies assessing PFAS reduces confidence levels. The article goes on to propose alternative methodologies for assessing potential health risks of PFAS as well as future potential research areas, all with the ultimate goal of providing policymakers with improved data on which to base decisions.