Household Chemicals and Vaccination Effect

Perfluorinated compounds, which are found in food packaging and textile products, can cause disorders of the immune system in children.

The researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health have conducted a study, which showed that the effectiveness of vaccines (diphtheria, tetanus) is greatly reduced for children, whose blood contains higher concentrations of perfluorinated compounds (PFC). So, seven-year-old children, whose concentration of PFC in the blood was twice exceeding the norm, had the reduction of the number of antibodies by 49%. Accordingly, the likelihood of being infected with diphtheria and tetanus was 4(!) times higher in some cases.

When the concentration of PFC in the body increases, the immune system becomes more sluggish and less capable of supporting protection mechanisms to combat pathogens. Thus, the children, who participated in the study and showed a high concentration of the PFC in the blood, had a smaller number of tetanus and diphtheria antibodies. The consequences of this failure may be the child’s having development problems, impaired reproductive function, as well as other health problems.

Perfluorinated compounds is a group of widely used fluorinated organic compounds that may be contained in repellents for the treatment of clothing, footwear and carpets, in a package for popcorn, which can be cooked at home in a microwave oven, as well as the packaging of child care cosmetics.