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What is the ATSDR Multi-site Health Study (MSS)?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's (ATSDR) Multi-site Health Study is the first national study designed to learn how drinking PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)-contaminated water may affect health.

The nationwide Multi-site Health Study will draw participants from seven states around the nation, including Michigan, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

The goal of MSS is to learn more about the relationship between PFAS exposure and health outcomes among different populations. MSS will include both adults and children and will collect data on many health outcomes, including behavioral and cognitive development in children. Results from all seven sites will be combined to provide a better scientific understanding about the relationships between PFAS exposure and health outcomes. Results will inform decisions as to how to address PFAS at the national level.  

Understanding the relationship between PFAS exposure and health outcomes will allow communities and governmental agencies to make better decisions about how to protect public health.

Learn more about the MSS study from the ATSDR website!

Who was eligible to participate?

Who was eligible?

  • Adults and children ages four through 17 (with parent or guardian permission) who lived in the Belmont/Rockford and Parchment/Cooper Township study areas between 2006 and 2018. Residents in the Belmont/Rockford study area were eligible to participate if they drank from residential drinking water wells.
  • Children (ages 4+) potentially exposed in utero or while breastfeeding may also be eligible.

Who was not eligible?

  • Residents who may have been exposed to PFAS on their job, such as those who ever worked as a firefighter, used firefighting foam, or ever worked at a company known to use PFAS were not eligible to participate.
  • Residents who only had exposure to PFAS-contaminated drinking water before 2006. Individuals without a recent exposure were not eligible to participate in the study as laboratory tests may not be able to detect exposures that occurred many years ago.