Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) comprise a large group of compounds that were manufactured for more than 60 years and were used for many industrial applications including stain repellents (such as Teflon), textile, paints, waxes, polishes, electronics, adhesives, and food packaging. Two of the most important PFCs are perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and perflorooctane acid (PFOA) and other perfluoro carboxylic acids (PFCAs) are resistant to degradation or/and can produce stable degradation products like fluorotelomers alcohols (PFTOHs), perfluorinated sulfonamides (PFASAs) and perfluorinated sulfonamide ethanols (PFASEs). Therefore, PFASs are ubiquitous environmental contaminants, which persist and may bioaccumulate through the food chain. The most important exposure pathways of perfluorinated compounds for humans are thought to be intake of drinking water, food and inhalation of dust. Because of their bioaccumulation and potential health concerns including toxicity, and their possible contribution to cancer promotion, non-governmental organizations, national and international authorities have addressed the PFASs problem by several pressure and legislative actions.PFASs are now included in different health programs in EEUU, Canada and Europe.  This communication will present the occurrence of 21 PFASS different type of matrices including drinking water and food from Spain, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Brazil. The analytical techniques used for their analysis along different studies performed by our group will be presented. Finally, results of exposure and human bioaccumulation in Spain will be compared at global scale by comparison with results reported worldwide. Relations between occurrence levels and ambient factors, drinking water pollution and type of diet will be as well discussed.  [Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the projects SCARCE (Consolider-Ingenio 2010 CSD2009-00065) and PRI-AIBSE-2011-1184 and by King Saud University grant number KSU-VPP-105.]

Fate and risk of perfluorinated alkyl substances in environmental and food samples across the world (Spain, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia)

246th National Meeting (2013)

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