Common Chemicals Dampen Immune Response

Common household chemicals may be gumming up the immune response. Perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, are found in food packaging, in microwave popcorn, in stain repellents for clothing and furniture as well as non-stick cookware. They are ubiquitous in the environment and contaminate many sources of drinking water as well as house dust.
A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that children exposed to PFCs have impaired immune responses to immunizations. The scientists followed approximately 600 children in the Faroe Islands off the coast of Scotland. They were studied from before birth until age 7. Blood levels of PFCs, were measured in the mothers and in the children.
The researchers found that mothers with the highest levels of one of these compounds, PFOS, had children who had lower diphtheria antibody concentrations at five years old. Doubling the children’s own PFC levels was associated with half the antibody response to tetanus and diphtheria immunizations. In some cases, this resulted in children having lower levels of antibodies than is considered necessary to protect them from infection.
PFCs are toxic to laboratory animals and test tube studies have also revealed immunotoxicity. This study in children suggests that PFCs at common exposure levels may also impair human immune response.
[JAMA, Jan. 25, 2012]