When the Minnesota Department of Health released its report Thursday on the amount of perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in the bodies of East Metro residents, MCEA public health scientist Samuel Yamin helped the media understand that there are different perspectives on how to interpret the data from this biomonitoring study.

Tom Meersman’s story in Friday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune said: Samuel Yamin, a public health scientist for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, disagreed with the health department's conclusion that the 3M chemicals in blood samples were "slightly higher than the national average."

"I would characterize it differently," said Yamin. "Significantly higher than the national average."

Yamin explained to both Meersman and Minnesota Public Radio reporter Stephanie Hemphill that the  levels of one of the chemicals, PFOA, are nearly five times higher among East Metro study participants, compared to levels found in two major studies that have provided a baseline for general U.S. population exposure. Levels of PFOS were two-to-three times higher than for the average American.

However, news reports so far have not included perhaps the most telling piece of information Yamin has brought to the discussion in Minnesota: The average levels of  PFOA and PFOS in the East Metro were at or above levels that were found to be correlated with impaired fertility in both women and men in two recently published studies.

While the Star-Tribune piece noted that Yamin agreed that these numbers, on their own, are not sufficient for predicting health effects or risks, Yamin is recommending that reproductive health effects should be considered as a relevant outcome for assessment among participants in the East Metro study. The chemicals were used by 3M Co. and were in the blood of residents who drank from tainted wells.

This would help with interpretation of the biomonitoring data, and help begin to answer questions about whether or not these PFC exposure levels are affecting the health of Minnesotans. Similarly, the Minnesota Public Radio report quoted a University of Minnesota researcher who also urged the health department to conduct some type of health study among people who had their blood tested.

The study released by the health department is a result of Minnesota's environmental health tracking and biomonitoring legislation, an idea originally developed by MCEA. These new programs, intended to increase knowledge of relationships between environmental pollutants and disease, were signed into law in 2007 after much effort by MCEA and a diverse range of partner organizations.

Yamin also sits on the environmental health tracking and biomonitoring advisory panel, a group of scientists charged with advising the Minnesota Department of Health as the agency conducts these activities.