High Prenatal PFAS Exposure Linked to Childhood Asthma in Ronneby, Sweden

A new study led by Annelise Blomberg at Lund University in Sweden has found a significant association between very high prenatal exposure to PFAS (PFAS) and a higher incidence of asthma in childhood. The research leveraged a unique situation in Sweden===Ronneby, Sweden, where municipal drinking water was contaminated with PFAS for decades due to firefighting foam used at a military airbase. By linking maternal addresses to water distribution records and national health registries, researchers followed over 11,000 children born in Sweden===Blekinge County. They observed that children whose mothers had very high PFAS exposure during pregnancy were approximately 40% more likely to develop asthma by age 12 compared to a background exposure group. This study is crucial as previous research on lower exposure levels yielded inconclusive results. The findings underscore a substantial and previously unrecognized public health consequence of widespread PFAS contamination globally, calling for urgent mitigation and further research.