As scientists and other professionals from a variety of disciplines, we are concerned about the production and release into the environment of an increasing number of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) for the following reasons:
PFASs are man-made and found everywhere. PFASs are highly persistent, as they contain perfluorinated chains that only degrade very slowly, if at all, under environmental conditions. It is documented that some polyfluorinated chemicals break down to form perfluorinated ones (D’Eon and Mabury 2007).
PFASs are found in the indoor and outdoor environments, wildlife, and human tissue and bodily fluids all over the globe. They are emitted via industrial processes and military and firefighting operations (Darwin 2011; Fire Fighting Foam Coalition 2014), and they migrate out of consumer products into air (Shoeib et al. 2011), household dust (Björklund et al. 2009), food (Begley et al. 2008; Tittlemier et al. 2007; Trier et al. 2011), soil (Sepulvado et al. 2011; Strynar et al. 2012), ground and surface water, and make their way into drinking water (Eschauzier et al. 2012; Rahman et al. 2014).
In animal studies, some long-chain PFASs have been found to cause liver toxicity, disruption of lipid metabolism and the immune and endocrine systems, adverse neurobehavioral effects, neonatal toxicity and death, and tumors in multiple organ systems (Lau et al. 2007; Post et al. 2012). In the growing body of epidemiological evidence, some of these effects are supported by significant or suggestive associations between specific long-chain PFASs and adverse outcomes, including associations with testicular and kidney cancers (Barry et al. 2013; Benbrahim-Tallaa et al. 2014), liver malfunction (Gallo et al. 2012), hypothyroidism (Lopez-Espinosa et al. 2012), high cholesterol (Fitz-Simon et al. 2013; Nelson et al. 2009), ulcerative colitis (Steenland et al. 2013), lower birth weight and size (Fei et al. 2007), obesity (Halldorsson et al. 2012), decreased immune response to vaccines (Grandjean et al. 2012), and reduced hormone levels and delayed puberty (Lopez-Espinosa et al. 2011).
Due to their high persistence, global distribution, bioaccumulation potential, and toxicity, some PFASs have been listed under the Stockholm Convention (United Nations Environment Programme 2009) as persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
As documented in the Helsingør Statement (Scheringer et al. 2014),
Ulteriori informazioni: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov
