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Harvard researcher: PFAS linked to immune, reproductive and metabolic harms; NASEM offers testing guidance
Summary
Dr. Tamara James Todd summarized growing evidence tying PFAS exposure to lower vaccine responses, birth outcomes, reproductive harms and cardiometabolic risks across the life course and described National Academies guidance on when clinicians should consider PFAS testing and exposure-reduction steps.
Dr. Tamara James Todd, a professor of environmental reproductive epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told a Nantucket public information session that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are "forever chemicals" with growing evidence linking them to health harms across life stages. She said the literature has expanded rapidly — from a few dozen studies two decades ago to more than a thousand by the end of 2024 — and now supports specific clinical and community responses.
Todd reviewed laboratory and epidemiologic findings showing PFAS can bioaccumulate and affect multiple organs. She described associations found in meta-analyses and cohort studies between higher PFAS levels and lower birth weight and preterm birth, immune effects including lower measles and rubella…
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