No higher incidences of certain types of cancer linked to the toxic chemical PFOA were found in an upstate New York village whose water supplies were contaminated by the chemical, state health officials said in a report released Wednesday.
The Department of Health said its investigation in Hoosick Falls found lower-than-normal rates of certain types of cancer linked to exposure to PFOA, a toxic chemical long used in the manufacture of Teflon and similar materials.
Health officials said researchers analyzed results from the state's cancer registry from 1995 through 2014, the same year elevated levels of PFOA were found in the village's public water system.
"No statistically significant elevations of cancer were found for any of the cancer types associated with PFOA exposure," the agency said.
The study's findings, first reported by the Times Union of Albany, have been mailed to residents in the Rensselaer County village, located near the Vermont border, 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Albany.
Last month, village residents went to Albany to mark 500 days since they first learned their water was contaminated by PFOA from local manufacturing sites. The state has installed more than 800 filtration treatment systems in houses since it acknowledged the high levels of PFOA in local water supplies. Residents who came to the state Capitol in May to seek a new water supply for the community said they remain wary of the filtrated water and consider it a temporary fix.
The state has said exposure to PFOA from the village's drinking water dates back more than 40 years.
One critic of the study questioned the state's methodology, saying researchers failed to take into account residents diagnosed with cancer after moving away from the village, even those who moved to the neighboring town.
"In a little village like Hoosick Falls, moving a mile away after you drank contaminated water for 40 years but before you get diagnosed means you are out of the study," said David Hassel, a former employee of the local plant that used PFOA in manufacturing.
