PARENT SESSION

1H a/b/c - Pesticides, pharmaceuticals, perfluoroalkylated substances, antibiotics
Poster Hall
8:30 AM - Wednesday, 30 April 2003
Chair: de Voogt, P.¹, ¹
Co-chair: Purdy, R.², Pluecken, U.³, Koerdel, W.⁴, Tolls, J.⁵, Kümmerer, K.⁶, ^{2 3 4 5 6}

(WEP/22) Perfluoroalkylated Substances in the Environment: What are they? Where to they come from? Where do they go? and What do we know about them?

Buck, Robert¹, de Voogt, Pim², ¹ DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise, Wilmington, DE, USA² Environmental and Toxicological Chemistry, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

ABSTRACT- Perfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) are specialty materials utilized in a wide variety of end-use applications which take advantage of the unique properties of the perfluoroalkyl functionality. These substances are manufactured by different processes and have functionality differences that influence their performance, toxicological and environmental behavior. To start, this paper will begin by reviewing the "classes" of PFAS and then proceed to discuss how these substances are used, their routes into the environment via these uses and provide an overview of what is known about their environmental toxicology and fate. Although only a limited number of essential physicochemical data are available, thus hampering a complete assessment of the environmental fate of PFAS, it has become clear that PFAS behave differently from other non-polar organic microcontaminants. Some PFAS have been identified in environmental media in urbanised areas with and without production sites nearby. For example, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has been detected globally in a wide array of organisms as well as in non-exposed and exposed human populations. In general, PFAS acute and chronic ecotoxicity to aquatic organisms is moderate to low. Acute toxicity to rodents is also low. While no human health effects or increased cancer risk have been observed for PFAS, PFOS has been shown to effect development and reproduction while perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been found to be weakly carcinogenic in repeated-dose rat studies. This review will show the importance of filling in the current environmental fate and effects information gaps for PFAS. As such, areas for future research will be suggested.

Key words: PFAS, perfluoroalkylated substances , perfluorooctane sulfonate