Pilot study on the perfluorooctanesulfonate and perfluorooctanoate exposure of the German general population

Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are used in a wide variety of consumer products. Major fields of application include surfactants, surface protection (e.g., for textiles, carpets, and upholstery), paper treatment (e.g., for food packages), and lubricants. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are raw materials or manufacturing aids for some PFCs and can be released of those by biotic and/or metabolic decomposition. Due to their widespread use, persistence and bioaccumulative properties they are taken up by the general population from different sources. This might be a problem for environmental medicine because in animal studies PFOS and PFOA provoked various types of cancer and showed developmental toxic potential besides other adverse health effects.

We determined the PFOS and PFOA plasma concentrations of 105 non-smokers out of the German general population as a first estimate of the exposure situation in Germany. We employed an analytical method based on serum protein precipitation followed by HPLC with MS/MS-detection. The median plasma concentrations of all participants were 22.3 and 6.8 μg/l, the 95th percentiles 54.3 and 14.6 μg/l for PFOS and PFOA, respectively. These values are comparable with those of other biomonitoring studies. In our study, men were higher burdened both with PFOS (median: 27.1 vs. 19.9 μg/l) and PFOA (median: 8.3 vs. 5.8 μg/l) than women. No significant influence of age on PFOS and PFOA plasma concentrations could be observed. A strong correlation (r=0.82) between PFOS and PFOA plasma levels indicates the same exposure sources. The ubiquitous internal exposure of the general population to PFOS and PFOA must lead to further activities primarily regarding clarification of sources, metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and health effects.