Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Facemasks: Potential Source of Human Exposure to PFAS with Implications for Disposal to Landfills

Abstract

Facemasks are important tools for fighting against disease spread, including Covid-19 and its variants, and some may be treated with per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Nine facemasks over a range of prices were analyzed for total fluorine and PFAS. The PFAS compositions of the masks were then used to estimate exposure and the mass of PFAS discharged to landfill leachate. Fluorine from PFAS accounted only for a small fraction of total fluorine. Homologous series of linear perfluoroalkyl carboxylates and the 6:2 fluorotelomer alcohol indicated a fluorotelomer origin. Inhalation was estimated to be the dominant exposure route (40%−50%), followed by incidental ingestion (15%− 40%) and dermal (11%−20%). Exposure and risk estimates were higher for children than adults, and high physical activity substantially increased inhalation exposure. These preliminary findings indicate that wearing masks treated with high levels of PFAS for extended periods of time can be a notable source of exposure and have the potential to pose a health risk. Despite modeled annual disposal of ∼29−91 billion masks, and an assuming 100% leaching of individual PFAS into landfill leachate, mask disposal would contribute only an additional 6% of annual PFAS mass loads and less than 11 kg of PFAS discharged to U.S. wastewater.

Paints: A Source of Volatile PFAS in Air─Potential Implications for Inhalation Exposure

“… a Bold values surpass the reference dose of 5 μg/kg-day derived from the 5000 μg/kg-bw/day reference does for male rats , with a safety factor of 1000 applied to take into account physiological differences between rats and humans …”

“…Experimental vapor pressure values for 6:2 FTOH ranging from 18–880 Pa were chosen. , An average predicted value of 130 Pa was selected from ChemSpider, which cites US EPA’s EPISuite as the data source . The estimated exposure dose from the model in units of μg/kg-day were then compared to a reference dose of 5 μg/kg-day for 6:2 FTOH, which was derived from the 5000 μg/kg-bw/day reference chronic dose for male rats , with a safety factor of 1000 applied to take into account physiological differences between rats and humans…”

An Overview of Chemical Additives on (Micro)Plastic Fibers: Occurrence, Release, and Health Risks

“…For instance, bromine (Br) and phosphorus (P) contents can be screened in fiber products with XRF and ICP-OES (Negev et al 2018 ; Petreas et al 2016 ; Young et al 2021 ). The total fluorine (F) analysis technique can be conducted before the extraction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to screen samples containing F quickly (Muensterman et al 2022 ; Schellenberger et al 2022 ). After the USE step of PFAS, some researches also apply solid phase extraction (SPE) to eliminate matrix compound interference and further concentrate samples (Gremmel et al 2016 ; Muensterman et al 2022 ).…”

“…For example, n-hexane/acetone (1:1) was used to extract 15 PAEs from children’s clothes, resulting in high recovery rates ranging from 81.9 to 107%; and this recipe has also been successfully applied to extract 39 BFRs and 16 OPEs from children’s sleeping nap mats (made of polyurethane) (Stubbings et al 2018 ; Tang et al 2020 ). For extraction of surfactants like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), methanol is commonly used (Muensterman et al 2022 ; Schellenberger et al 2022 ; Zheng and Salamova 2020 ). Since PFAS consists of a large number of substances, there are also different extraction solutions and analytical methods for volatile and nonvolatile PFAS, respectively (Table 2 ).…”

Neutral Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, Butyl Carbitol, and Organic Corrosion Inhibitors in Aqueous Film-Forming Foams: Implications for Vapor Intrusion and the Environment

“…The term “neutral” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) is used herein, instead of “volatile PFAS”, − and includes PFAS not expected to be charged at environmentally relevant pH and to avoid confusion with the term “volatile” in the context of vapor intrusion (VI). Neutral PFAS can be derived either from fluorotelomerization (FT) (e.g., fluorotelomer alcohols or FTOHs) or from electrochemical fluorination (ECF) (e.g., N -methyl- and N -ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamides (MeFOSA and EtFOSA, respectively) and N -methyl- and N -ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamido ethanols (MeFOSE and EtFOSE, respectively)).…”