W5 AM Perfluorochemical Monitoring
Wednesday, 16 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in 321-323

(KAN-1117-808114) Accumulation of Perfluorinated Compounds in Biota.

Kannan, K.¹, ¹ Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Empire State Plaza, PO Box 509, Albany, NY 12201-0509, USA

ABSTRACT- Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are used in a wide variety of consumer products for more than 50 years. These compounds are persistent and bioaccumulative in the food chain. Recent developments in analytical techniques using high performance liquid chromatography-negative ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) permitted the survey of PFCs in biota on a global scale. The HPLC-MS/MS analysis revealed the occurrence of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHS) in addition to several long chain perfluorocarboxylates in human blood and wildlife tissues from all over the world. In general, PFOS was the most abundant perfluorinated compound in biota, while PFOA was prevalent in surface waters. Higher concentration of PFOS than PFOA in biological samples is due to its greater bioaccumulation potential. The occurrence of PFCs in biota from remote marine environment has led to several hypotheses related to long-range transport of PFCs. Atmospheric transport of relatively more volatile precursor compounds, such as polyfluoroalkylated sulfonamides, sulfonamidoalcohols, and fluorotelomer alcohols, to remote marine locations, where they break down by biological or non-biological processes to PFOS and PFOA, has been a plausible explanation for the occurrence of these compounds in biota from remote areas. Precursor compounds are also expected to be present in biota which has less metabolic capacity. Monitoring of precursor compounds in biotic and abiotic matrices is a subject of further investigation.

Key words: PFOS, dolphins, birds, food chain