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Guest Comment: Polyfluorinated Compounds Focus Issue
Citation:
LINDSTROM, A. B., M. STRYNAR, L. LIBELO, AND J. FIELD. Guest Comment: Polyfluorinated Compounds Focus Issue. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 45(19):7951-7953, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Over the past decade, a great deal has been learned about the perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), a new class of environmental contaminants that includes the now well-known perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and many other related compounds. These materials quickly gained worldwide attention when they were found to be globally distributed in the environment and present in most of the human blood samples that were tested. Additional interest and concern has come from the fact that some compounds in this class have been found to be persistent in the environment, bioaccumulative in food chains, and toxic to various species. Moreover, the half-lives of many of these compounds in humans are on the order of several years, making potential human toxicity a particular concern. In aggregate, the human health studies conducted to date have yielded inconclusive results, but recent investigations are beginning to indicate a number of possible effects in human populations. As awareness of these compounds has increased, research has grown to include a broader range of polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs), including the telomer alcohols, polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs), perfluorinated phosphonic acids (PFPAs), fluoropolymers, and a growing number of new compounds that have recently been introduced by commercial manufacturers. Some governmental entities have taken steps to limit or restrict the production of some PFCs, with the greatest emphasis being the discontinuation of perfluoroalkyl chemistries with eight or more carbons, as this size range is the most likely to bioaccumulate in living organisms. Perhaps most notably, PFOS, its salts, and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (POSF) have recently been listed in Annex B of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, indicating a growing worldwide consensus on this issue.
URLs/Downloads:
Guest Comment: Polyfluorinated Compounds Focus Issue (PDF, NA pp, 5 KB, about PDF)Environmental Science & Technology
