[Military Environmental Forum] PFAS, VETERANS: "Veterans have higher levels of ‘forever chemicals’ in their blood than civilians, new study finds"

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

Veterans have higher levels of ‘forever chemicals’ in their blood than civilians, new study finds
The research found that veterans between 20 and 39 had the highest concentration of PFAS chemicals compared to their non-veteran counterparts.

By NICHOLAS SLAYTON
TASK & PURPOSE
September 21, 2026


A large swath of veterans has a higher concentration of “forever chemicals” in their blood than non-veterans, according to a new peer-reviewed study published last week. That high concentration is more prevalent in veterans below the age of 40.

The study, conducted by researchers at Brown University and Harvard University and published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, compared levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” in veterans’ blood with civilians’, using federal health data. PFAS are synthetic chemicals used in cookware as well as weapons or firefighting foams and other materials and equipment. More than 10,000 compounds exist.

The study used PFAS blood serum results from surveys done between 2003 and 2018. Of the more than 22 million veterans who participated in the study, 58% were found to have higher levels of PFAS than the threshold set by the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.


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For the article, see
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/pfas-veterans-concentration-study-forever-chemicals/

For the letter version of the study, see
https://pubs.acs.org/evhpaz/article/doi/10.1021/EHP.6c00631/5429563/Serum-PFAS-Concentrations-Among-US-Veterans-NHANES

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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