Study: Young Veterans Carry Up To 24% More Forever Chemicals

Young Veterans Show Higher Levels of Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’

Veterans between the ages of 20 and 39 carry significantly more toxic “forever chemicals” in their blood than civilians the same age, with levels of one chemical running as much as 24% higher, according to a new analysis of 15 years of national health data.

PFAS, the class of chemicals used for decades in products like firefighting foam, barely break down in the environment or the human body. They’ve been linked to cancer, developmental problems, and immune effects, according to researchers who published their findings in Environmental Health Perspectives.

A different picture emerges when all veterans are combined regardless of age. Overall, veterans had lower adjusted levels of most PFAS chemicals than non-veterans, even though the age-specific data showed notably higher levels among veterans in their 20s and 30s.

Fifteen Years of Health Records Reveal a Hidden Forever Chemicals Pattern

Researchers drew on eight rounds of a long-running national health survey run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, collected between 2003 and 2018. Adults aged 20 and older who had blood tests for PFAS and who reported whether they’d served in the US military were included. In this group, 11% identified as veterans, representing an estimated 22.8 million people once the data were adjusted to reflect the broader US population, compared to an estimated 186 million non-veterans.

Scientists focused on several individual forever chemicals plus a combined measure of seven chemicals that a scientific advisory group, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, recommends using for health screening. That group says a combined blood level of 20 nanograms per milliliter or higher should prompt doctors to recommend extra monitoring because of the health risks tied to these chemicals. Researchers also adjusted for factors like race, ethnicity, education, and survey year, then checked whether age, sex, or race changed the results.

Younger Veterans Carry Sharply Higher Forever Chemicals Levels

Among adults in their 20s and 30s, veterans showed forever chemical levels well above their non-veteran counterparts. One commonly studied chemical was 13% higher in younger veterans. Another was 19% higher. A third was 24% higher. When researchers combined all seven chemicals into a single measure, younger veterans came in 17% higher than younger non-veterans, and they were 18% more likely to have combined levels at or above the 20 nanogram threshold that triggers screening recommendations.

That pattern flipped with age. Among veterans aged 40 to 59 and 60 and older, the gap shrank and, for some chemicals, nearly disappeared or slightly reversed, though those later differences were not statistically meaningful. White veterans specifically showed lower levels across almost every chemical compared to White non-veterans.

Sex mattered too. Female veterans had a 37% lower rate of elevated combined PFAS compared to female non-veterans. Male veterans showed no meaningful difference from male non-veterans. The study’s authors suggested this could reflect the kinds of military jobs men and women have historically held, noting that women are more often represented in support, healthcare, and communication roles and less often in combat or technical jobs like firefighting, where PFAS-containing foam has commonly been used.

Forever Chemicals Fade from the Body as Veterans Get Older

Basic body chemistry could help explain why younger veterans looked so different from older ones, the researchers said. Forever chemicals don’t stay in the bloodstream indefinitely; the body slowly clears them, with some taking roughly a year and a half to more than eight years to drop to half their original level. Someone who served more recently would still be carrying more of the chemical from that exposure, while someone who served decades ago has had more time for those levels to fall. Younger veterans, being closer in time to their service, may simply be caught nearer to the moment of exposure.

An earlier study of active-duty Air Force servicemen found higher PFAS concentrations than similarly aged men in the general population during some years between 1999 and 2008, a finding the authors said is consistent with the pattern seen among younger veterans here.

Missing Service Details Leave Key Questions Open

One gap in the survey: it didn’t ask which branch someone served in, what job they held, or how long ago their service ended. That detail matters, because exposure likely varies a lot depending on role, whether someone worked around firefighting foam or other high-exposure settings, and how much time has passed since leaving service. Even with that gap, researchers still found a clear pattern among younger veterans.

Younger veterans facing higher forever chemical exposure than civilian peers is easy to miss inside an overall statistic that looks reassuring. A veteran in their 20s or 30s who reads only that veterans overall have lower PFAS levels would miss the part of the story that applies most directly to their own health. Health systems serving veterans may want a closer look at screening recommendations for younger service members specifically, rather than treating the entire veteran population as one group with the same exposure profile.

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Disclaimer: This article is based on findings published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and is intended for general informational purposes. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Anyone with concerns about PFAS exposure or military-related health screening should consult a qualified healthcare provider.

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