Recruitment for a study into the long-term health effects of PFAS exposure in Bucks and Montgomery counties should start this spring.

 

Officials with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) are hoping to have 1,000 adults and 300 children exposed to the suspected carcinogen near Warminster, Warrington and Horsham.

 

The chemicals contaminated public and private drinking water wells for decades from firefighting foams used at nearby active and former military bases.

 

The ATSDR, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and researchers from the nonprofit group RTI International, the state Department of Health, Temple University and other groups have been organizing the study over the past several months.

 

Researchers were able to provide more details on eligibility during a Dec. 3 public Zoom meeting announcing the potential expansion of the study area since July.

 

The primary focus will be in residents living near some of the most heavily contaminated wells in the three townships, a population of roughly 32,000 people in 12,000 households.

 

Wells in Bucks and Montgomery counties were among the most contaminated sites tested in the country four years ago, with some having nearly 100 times more than the EPA’s 70 ppt limit.

 

Researchers will directly contact certain residents in those areas once a study site office is established and operational in the spring.