Certain chemicals found in everyday household items may be lowering children’s responses to vaccines, American researchers suggest in a new study.
Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health say vaccine effectiveness is compromised in children who are exposed to high levels of perfluorinated compounds – or PFCs.
PCFs are typically found in waterproof clothing, stain-resistant carpeting and even fast-food packaging, noted lead author Philippe Grandjean, an adjunct professor of environmental health at Harvard.
“Routine childhood immunizations are a mainstay of modern disease prevention. The negative impact on childhood vaccinations from PFCs should be viewed as a potential threat to public health,” he warned.
PCFs are also found in the Teflon coatings of non-stick cookware and even microwave popcorn bags.
In previous studies, scientists have put concentrated levels of PFC in mice to find that the amount that exists in humans was enough to suppress immune response. This study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to document effects in humans, Grandjean said.
The researchers studied hospital records of 587 children born between 1999 and 2001 in the Faroe Islands, which lie between Scotland and Iceland near the north Atlantic. The area was selected because recent studies in the region have reported increasing levels of PFCs in the drinking water and fish there.
Get breaking National news
The kids in the study received their diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines at three months old while booster shots were administered when they were five years old.
After follow up at ages five and seven, results showed that antibody concentration levels – which indicate immune function in children – were lower based on PFC exposure.
Grandjean noted that kids whose PCF levels were twice as high had half the amount of antibodies to combat diphtheria and tetanus compared to children who had lower concentrations of PFCs.
“We were surprised by the steep negative associations, which suggest that PFCs may be more toxic to the immune system than current dioxin exposures,” Grandjean said.
After testing the mothers of five-year-olds in the study, the researchers noted that even exposure to the chemicals harmed pregnant women and their unborn babies.
Babies should be immunized when they are “very young” because vaccines work best when they’re given at this time, the Public Health Agency of Canada notes.
Immunizations should begin at the age of two months, four months, six months, between 12 and 18 months and again between the ages of four and six.
While some parents have been hesitant to give their babies vaccines because of potential side effects, the federal agency is steadfast in advising parents to make sure their infants are vaccinated at an early age.
“During her first 2 years of life, your baby is most at risk of getting one of the 13 vaccine-preventable diseases. This means that if she catches a disease like pertussis (whooping cough) or meningitis, she can get very sick – or even die. That’s why immunization starts at the age of 2 months – to give her the most protection as early in life as possible,” the agency says on its website.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.