Perfluorinated Compounds in Human Breast Milk from Several Asian Countries, and in Infant Formula and Dairy Milk from the United States

Abstract

The occurrence of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in human blood is known to be widespread; nevertheless, the sources of exposure to humans, including infants, are not well understood. In this study, breast milk collected from seven countries in Asia was analyzed (n=184) for nine PFCs, including perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA). In addition, five brands of infant formula (n=21) and 11 brands of dairy milk (n=12) collected from retail stores in the United States were analyzed, for comparison with PFC concentrations previously reported for breast milk from the U.S. PFOS was the predominant PFC detected in almost all Asian breast milk samples, followed by perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) and PFOA. Median concentrations of PFOS in breast milk from Asian countries varied significantly;the lowest concentration of 39.4 pg/mL was found in India, and the highest concentration of 196 pg/mL was found in Japan. The measured concentrations were similarto or less than the concentrations previously reported from Sweden, the United States, and Germany (median, 106-166 pg/mL). PFHxS was found in more than 70% of the samples analyzed from Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam, at mean concentrations ranging from 6.45 (Malaysia) to 15.8 (Philippines) pg/mL PFOA was found frequently only in samples from Japan; the mean concentration for that country was 77.7 pg/mL. None of the PFCs were detected in the infant-formula or dairy-milk samples from the U.S. except a few samples that contained concentrations close to the limit of detection. The estimated average daily intake of PFOS by infants from seven Asian countries, via breastfeeding, was 11.8 +/- 10.6 ng/kg bw/ day; this value is 7-12 times higher than the estimated adult dietary intakes previously reported from Germany, Canada, and Spain. The average daily intake of PFOA by Japanese infants was 9.6 +/- 4.9 ng/kg bw/day, a value 3-10 times greater than the estimated adult dietary intakes reported from Germany and Canada. The highest estimated daily intakes of PFOS and PFOA by infants from seven Asian countries studied were 1-2 orders of magnitude below the tolerable daily intake values recommended by the U.K. Food Standards Agency.

A review of sources, multimedia distribution and health risks of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in China

“…These results suggested that there might be a potential risk of PFOS or PFOA for infants via breast-breeding and also adults via various pathways like diet or drinking water in both cities. TDIs of PFOS for infant (usually used as EDIs, which stand for estimated dietary intakes for infant) in China were less than or comparable to those from other Asian countries (Tao et al, 2008), but higher than certain western countries like Canada, Germany and Spain . Mean TDIs of PFOA for both adult and infant in China were higher than those from other countries (Tao et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2010), which implied that Chinese population might be exposed to higher PFOA concentrations through daily intake (Table S3).…”

“…For fetuses and infants, two exposure pathways of PFAAs, including maternal-fetal transmission and breast feeding transmission, have attracted intensive attention in recent years (So et al, 2006b;Tao et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2010;Glynn et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2013a,d;Nøst et al, 2014). For fetuses, significant positive correlations have been found between concentrations of PFAAs in paired samples of maternal whole blood and placenta, and between placenta and cord blood (Zhang et al, 2013a) (Fig.…”

Trends of polyfluoroalkyl compounds in marine biota and in humans

“…In human breast milk samples, collected in 2004 in USA and from 1999 to 2005 in Asian countries, PFOS was the predominant PFC followed by PFOA, PFHxS and PFNA, whereas PFBS was only detected in some single samples. [52,54] PFOS and PFOA were also the dominant PFCs in human milk samples from China, collected in 2004 (45-360 ng L À1 and 47-210 ng L À1 respectively), followed by PFHxS, PFNA and PFUnDA. Low amounts (o10 ng L À1 ) of PFBS, PFHxA, PFHpA, PFDA as well as 8 : 2 fluorotelomer carboxylate (8 : 2 FTCA) and 8 : 2 fluorotelomer unsaturated carboxylate (8 : 2 FTUCA) could also be detected.…”

“…[51][52][53] Mean concentrations in breast milk from different countries were summarised by several authors. [54][55][56] Highest PFOS concentrations (medians) were found in breast milk from Hungary with ,330 ng L À1 (n ¼ 13; 1996-97) [57] followed by Japan with 196 ng L À1 (n ¼ 24; 1999), [54] Sweden with 166 ng L À1 (n ¼ 12; 2004), [51] Germany with 119 ng L À1 (n ¼ 57; 2006), [57] Malaysia with 111 ng L À1 (n ¼ 13; 2003), [54] USA with 106 ng L À1 (n ¼ 43; 2004), [52] Philippines with 104 ng L À1 (n ¼ 24; 2002-04), [54] China with 100 ng L À1 (n ¼ 19; 2004), [58] whereas the PFOS concentrations in breast milk from Indonesia (n ¼ 20; 2001), Vietnam (n ¼ 40; 2000-01), Cambodia (n ¼ 24; 2002) and India (n ¼ 39; 2002-05) were below 100 ng L À1 . [54] It is noticeable that the high PFOS values in milk from Hungary and Japan were found in samples taken before 2000, whereas the lower values were related to samples taken after 2000.…”

A rapid and fully automatic method for the accurate determination of a wide carbon-chain range of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (C4–C18) in human serum

“…These compounds have been produced and used for many different industrial and commercial applications, such as textiles, paper packaging, carpets, pesticides, surfactants, polymer additives and fire-fighting foams, since the 1950s [1][2][3]. PFASs have been detected in human serum [4][5][6], milk [7], and urine [8]. Their potential risks, such as reproductive and developmental toxicity to humans, have caused extensive public concern [9,10].…”