Perfluoroalkyl Compounds

Characterisation of human exposure pathways to perfluorinated compounds — Comparing exposure estimates with biomarkers of exposure

“…The ECF process was mainly used to produce PFOA and a line of perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF)-based products including PFOS. The global production of these products in 2000 was estimated to be around 3535 tonnes (Stock et al 2010). In 2000, a phase-out of production of "perfluorooctanyl" compounds was announced by the main US manufacturer, 3M (3M Company 2000) after PFOS was found to be widespread in human populations and wildlife (Hansen et al 2001;Kannan et al 2001a; Kannan et al 2001b).…”

“…The FTOHs have been produced using the telomerisation process from the 1970s (Prevedouros et al 2006). The annual production of FTOHs from 2000-2002 was estimated to be 5 000-6 500 tonnes, while a volume of around 12 000 tonnes in 2004 was estimated (Stock et al 2010).…”

“…As PFCs are neither produced nor used in the Arctic, their presence must be due to long-range transport. FOSA/FOSEs and FTOHs are found predominately in the air, while PFSAs, PFCAs and FTUCAs are mainly found in the aquatic phase (Stock et al 2010). …”

“…Vapour pressures of PFCAs and PFSAs in dissociated forms are expected to be low, thus exposure from air primarily occurs through inhalation of neutral PFCs (Stock et al 2010).…”

“…The vapour pressures of PFCAs and PFSAs in their dissociated form are expected to be very low (Stock et al 2010), thus these PFCs are expected to be mainly bound to particles. Neutral PFCs have high vapour pressures and are found predominately in the gas phase (Stock et al 2010).…”