PFCs and childhood immunizations

Perflourinated compounds (PFCs) have been identified as food contaminants. In addition to known immune suppression in a rodent model, a recent article in JAMA (“Serum Vaccine Antibody Concentrations in Children Exposed to Perflourinated Compounds”, Jan. 25, 2012) found that “elevated exposures to PFCs were associated with reduced humoral immune response to routine childhood immunizations in children aged 5 to 7 years”. As noted in JAMA, “these findings suggest a decreased effect of childhood vaccines and may reflect a more general immune system deficit.”