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PFAS in the Atmosphere – Sources, Sampling, and Standards, Opening Remarks
Citation:
Liu, X. AND C. Bevington. PFAS in the Atmosphere – Sources, Sampling, and Standards, Opening Remarks. ASTM Workshop on PFAS in Atmosphere ¿ Sources, Sampling, and Standards, Washington DC, DC, November 01 - 02, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services. The scientific foundation for understanding exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and associated concerns about their potential health effects is rapidly expanding. ASTM D22.05 Indoor Air Subcommittee in D22 Air Quality Committee is organizing an ASTM Workshop on PFAS in Atmosphere – Sources, Sampling, and Standards on November 1- 2, 2023, in Washington DC. This presentation serves as an opening remarks for the ASTM workshop. It provides an overview of the background, objectives, and topics of this workshop.
Description:
The scientific foundation for understanding exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and associated concerns about their potential health effects is rapidly expanding. PFAS are persistent, bioaccumulative, mobile, and are detected in a wide variety of environmental media, humans, and wildlife. Inhalation of air containing PFAS substances contributes to aggregate exposures. Air can also be an important exposure pathway that contributes to elevated concentrations of PFAS in indoor dust, soil, and waterways. There are significant efforts to develop harmonized and consensus test standards for measuring PFAS in various media by governmental agencies, voluntary consensus standards bodies, and researchers worldwide. While there have been a few PFAS standard methods developed for water, soils, sediments, biosolids, and biota, efforts to develop standardized methods for PFAS in air and sources such as consumer products are nascent. There is a need to develop harmonized and consensus test standards that focus on sampling and analysis of PFAS in air and sources such as consumer products. This workshop will cover sources, sampling, and standard method development of PFAS from various atmospheres including indoor air, outdoor air, and air sampled from chambers during product testing. We will have 18 presenters from governmental agencies, academia, testing laboratories, manufactures, and field practitioners on topics of (1) where PFAS come from; (2) how to ensure good data quality; and (3) what is needed for the development of consensus standards related to PFAS in the atmosphere. At the end of the workshop, we will have a group discussion on the research needs and future efforts of ASTM to support stakeholders.