People in the predominantly Black community of Navassa in Brunswick County that gets its drinking water from the Cape Fear River are being tested for P-FAS exposure.
In the GenX Exposure Study, researchers are examining the blood of people who’ve been exposed to PFAS, which have contaminated waterways throughout the state, including the Cape Fear River.
In 2017, GenX chemicals were found in the river and N.C. State University and East Carolina University researchers launched the study that year to answer some of the many questions about the potential health impacts of the chemicals on humans.
Chemours’ Fayetteville Works has been identified as the culprit in the contamination, both for dumping chemicals into the river and for the PFAS that came out of smokestacks and drifted on the wind to surrounding areas.