Martin said laboratory modelling usually focused on one PFAS type at a time, but the Williamtown sample included nine PFAS types, including the three most commonly detected in humans – PFOS, PFHxS and PFOA.
The Newcastle study also included a high-dose group of mice exposed to PFAS at 10 times the Williamtown concentration, but some of the hormonal effects were only observed in the low-dose group that matched Williamtown. The paper notes that non-linear dose responses have been observed in numerous studies of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Dr Jacinta Martin co-authored a paper on the effects of PFAS on mice fertility.Credit: University of Newcastle
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found that almost everyone in Australia has some level of PFAS in their bloodstream, and three types – PFOS, PFHxS and PFOA – have been detected in 85 per cent of people over the age of 12. Numerous Australian and global studies have found that many types of PFAS cause cancer and birth defects, and the National Health and Medical Research Council lowered the levels of contamination permitted in drinking water earlier this year.
The chemicals build up in the body over time, but the Newcastle researchers found significant effects in the mice even over the 12 weeks of the study. Some of the changes were a fall in male hormones, including testosterone and dihydrotestosterone, which are vital for sperm production and are linked in other research to mood changes, muscle loss and fat gain.
The effects also included a decrease in day-to-day sperm production, meaning the mice were less fertile. The sperm looked normal and could fertilise eggs, but carried hidden changes in the form of altered molecules that regulate gene expression.
Dr Jacinta Martin analyses results on a computer.Credit: University of Newcastle
The researchers received funding from the NHMRC’s targeted call for research into PFAS.
The study also has implications for wildlife, especially predators such as snakes, aquatic creatures such as frogs, and platypus.
University of Melbourne researchers have separately investigated PFAS in marsupials for the first time, and that paper will be published in Science of the Total Environment later this week.
They found high PFAS concentrations in common ringtail and brushtail possums that had died for other reasons in Melbourne. The possums studied had at some point been exposed, and the median levels were among the highest recorded in any small terrestrial mammal worldwide. The researchers said this suggests that broad PFAS contamination of Australian ecosystems and native species is highly probable.
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Western Sydney University water scientist Professor Ian Wright, co-author of the PFAS in platypus study, said it was fascinating that results from a study by the University of Newcastle were based on just 12 weeks.
“It really makes you wonder about what happens with a lifetime exposure,” Wright said. “This has so many questions about fertility and survival of a species, but it is concerning there is [genetic] alteration, so we could see effects in future generations that we just don’t understand yet.”
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