A third study of perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in the blood of Washington County residents will begin next week. The Minnesota Department of Health is working to determine whether measures to reduce PFC exposures in residents are working.

The East Metro PFC3 Biomonitoring Project will contact selected residents of Oakdale, Lake Elmo and Cottage Grove by mail.

The project will study whether PFC levels continue to go down in a group of long-term east metro residents, and whether Oakdale residents new since 2006 have PFC levels comparable to the U.S. general population.

Some drinking water sources in the area were contaminated with perfluorochemicals before a 2006 public health intervention, which included giving granular activated carbon filters to residents on private well water, hooking up some residents to city water supplies and installing treatment filters in the city water systems.

More information on the biomonitoring project is at the Minnesota Department of Health.