The negative effects of PFFS are confirmed. The PFA (or perfluoroalcylas and polyfluoroalcylas) are “extremely persistent” polluting chemicals, as French health agencies remember. Also called “eternal pollutants”, they are regularly subject to controversy and are present in our environment: tap water, food, air, etc. And then they are found in our organizations.
But a new harmful effect is added to the list of our knowledge about its effects. The results of a French study conducted by researchers and researchers from Grenoble Inserm conclude that “PFA can alter the health of the placenta during pregnancy”, since researchers write in a press release published this Thursday, February 13.
Between 2014 and 2017, a group of 367 pregnant women and their children were followed to study the impact of these eternal contaminants calculated in their placenta, which serves as a connection between the mother and the child during pregnancy. The worrying results of the study were published on January 30, 2025 in the Environmental International scientific journal.
Hypertension, smaller babies: “Complications during pregnancy”
“The placenta is an essential organ during pregnancy that establishes the link between the mother and the fetus and allows, among other things, the exchanges of gas and nutrients,” recalls Claire Philippat, encoder with the study and researcher to INSERM.
It turns out that exposure to PFA causes a less good infusion of the placenta and a decrease in exchanges between the mother and the fetus. The consequence: a drop in oxygen intake and nutrients delivered to the developing child.
Specifically, the “harmful consequences” seem according to this study, arise from this interruption. “Deregulation (…) has been associated with complications of pregnancy,” including preeclampsia, a disorder that manifests itself in high blood pressure.
But the PFA also have a greater risk of giving birth to “low weight baby”, although pregnancies were not shorter than conventional gestation time, with a median median weeks.
“A study in the same population (OUIDE et al., 2019) found no association between this PFAS group variable and birth weight,” Grenoble researchers said in their publication.
The PFA, an still unknown enemy?
The conclusions of French researchers are in line with previous similar studies, even more deeply certain knowledge of the mechanisms at stake.
“In the future, the scientific team wishes to reproduce this study on a larger scale to confirm these results (…) We hope that a national study is born shortly to better understand the consequences of exposure to exposure to the mother’s health And the boy, “the press release read.
In general, the effects on the human organism of the PFFASS are still little known. The National Health Security Agency (ANSE) at least estimates that certain harmful effects have already been demonstrated at least partially.
Increase in cholesterol levels, cancers, effects on fertility and fetus development, liver, kidneys, etc. “They are also suspected of interfering with the endocrine (thyroid) and immune system,” he lists the handles on a dedicated page.
Source: BFM TV
