Fountain Valley residents are seeing the levels of forever chemicals in their blood drop over time, although the level of one substance remains high compared to people across the nation, results of recent studies show.

Researcher Anne Starling, with the Colorado School of Public Health, presented the findings during a virtual meeting Tuesday that focused on early results from a multi-site forever chemical study with more than 1,000 participants from the Fountain Valley.

Residents in Fountain, Security-Widefield and surrounding areas drank water contaminated with forever chemicals from firefighting foams used on Peterson Space Force Base for years. All the communities are now treating the ground water for the chemicals. However, the exposure lead to elevated levels of the substances in their blood that can cause long-term health effects such as an increase in cholesterol levels, kidney and testicular cancers, among many other effects.

Forever chemical is a blanket term for thousands of chemicals that remain in the environment and human bodies and do not break down. Americans are exposed to them in fast-food packaging and nonstick cookware.

The large multi-site study includes participants from California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Fountain Valley boasted the second highest number of enrollees of all the sites with 1,066. Pennsylvania led the way with 1,342 enrollees.

“This community really made a strong contribution to the power and impact of this national study,” Starling said.

The study seeks to determine the connections between forever chemical exposure and health effects such as liver damage, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis and obesity. It will also study forever chemical effects in children such as learning and behavioral issues.

The analysis to determine those connections is just getting underway and will be forthcoming over the next two years, she said.

“The real work as far as I am concerned is the analysis,” she said.

However she was able to share some broad results comparing recent sampling of Fountain Valley residents from earlier, smaller samples taken in 2018 and 2019. While the samples included different groups of people, the trend was clear.

“The median level is going down which is exactly what you would expect following exposure ceasing from the water source,” Starling said. Researchers are seeing a 40% decline in median exposure.

However, levels of PFHxS remain higher than the national levels, she said. PFHxS is a substance associated with firefighting foam.

While the human body cannot break down the chemicals, humans excrete forever chemicals slowly through urine and blood, Starling said. Women in the Fountain Valley overall have a lower level of forever chemicals likely because the chemicals are leaving their body through their menstrual cycles and pregnancy, she said.

Study participates have also received letters with their personal levels of forever chemicals that can inform their health care.

Starling explained residents should add up the levels of PFAS in bold in their letter; that total can help guide screenings clinicians should offer.

Those with totals between 2 nanograms per milliliter and 20 nanograms per milliliter have a potential for adverse effects, especially in sensitive populations. Those with totals above 20 nanograms per milliliter have increased risk of adverse health effects, the presentation said.

More details about those guidelines can be found at bit.ly/NASEM-PFAS.

To limit exposure to forever chemicals, residents can use stainless steel or cast iron pots and pains and avoid eating fast food because forever chemicals are used in the packaging, the presentation said.

A second online community meeting is set for 6:30 to 7:30 on Wednesday. Residents can stream the presentation and ask question during the meeting on Zoom at https://ucdenver.zoom.us/j/93678053215.

​More information about the study can be found at co-scope.org.