Response to “Comment on ‘Maternal Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Male Reproductive Function in Young Adulthood: Combined Exposure to Seven PFAS’”

Prenatal and Early Postnatal Exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): What Is the Correlation between Dioxins and Long-Chain Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFAS)?

“…Compared to the corresponding analysis in the children, 6 the correlation coefficients in the mothers were lower, as the data field in children had a much wider range. This is attributed to formula-feeding on the one side vs. long duration of breastfeeding on the other side (resulting in lower vs. higher PFOA/dioxin levels, respectively, compared to those of the mothers 7 ) In the response of Hærvig et al., 8 the authors argued against a relevant correlation in the mothers, pointing to data of PCB153 and PFOS from Poland and Ukraine 9 with low correlation coefficients of 0.20 and 0.23, respectively. Indeed, our data confirmed a low correlation of the sum of nondioxin-like PCBs No.…”

“…With respect to the latter study, the question of the correlation of dioxins and PFAS was raised in a comment, 6 showing data of dioxin international toxicity equivalents (I-TEq) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in 11-month-old children predominantly breastfed for at least 4 months, 7 with a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient of . In their response, 8 the authors argued that they expect low correlations of dioxins and PFAS with respect to prenatal exposure (i.e., concentrations in the mothers). Data on the correlations are available from our study, 7 not only for the children, 6 but also for the mothers, the latter of which are presented in this article.…”