MaineHealth has received a $4.5 million grant to study the health impact of PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals.”
The five-year grant comes from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health.
The MaineHealth Institute for Research will lead the study, with Dr. Abby Fleisch, a pediatric endocrinology and pediatrics provider at MaineHealth, serving as principal investigator.
Fleisch will build on previous findings that children with higher levels of PFAS in their blood experienced later onset of puberty and lower bone mineral density, potentially putting them at greater risk of osteoporosis later in life.
The new research will seek to replicate those findings in a larger group of participants and examine whether the effects of PFAS on bone health persist into adulthood.
“Right now, bone health is not something doctors routinely monitor in children with high exposure to PFAS,” Fleisch said. “If the negative impacts on bone continue into adulthood, we may need to consider whether these recommendations should change.”
The research will also examine how PFAS may delay puberty and weaken bones. MaineHealth said the findings could eventually affect the care of hundreds of Maine residents and thousands more nationwide.
Most Americans have had some exposure to PFAS, which have been widely used in household products and industrial settings since the 1950s.
Hundreds of Maine farms also used PFAS-contaminated sludge as fertilizer until it was banned in 2022. A 2025 study by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection found that 20% of the 2,919 groundwater samples tested at those sludge application sites exceeded the state’s interim drinking water standard for PFAS.
