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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure science: current knowledge, information needs, future directions

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Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances have been documented at all spatial scales with concerns of adverse ecological and human health effects. Human exposures and relative pathway contributions depend on the specific population, their exposure scenarios, and pathways of local sources. We aimed to provide a narrative overview of (1) current per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances knowledge for sources, concentrations, and exposures; (2) critical per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure information gaps and needs, and (3) US Environmental Protection Agency’s strategies and action plans in collaboration with other federal, industrial, and academic partners. A literature review was conducted for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (primarily perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid) compounds in blood, water, soil, house dust, indoor and outdoor air, consumer products, food, and fish, as well as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure modeling. Large variability exists in measured per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances environmental concentrations and human exposures. The literature indicated that ingestion of food (“background”), drinking water (“contaminated” scenarios), and house dust (for children) is main pathways for perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid. Needs for addressing critical data gaps are identified. More information is available on long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances than for replacement and emerging ones. A large-scale research effort by the US Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies is underway for a better understanding of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposures.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been made possible by contributions and interactions with EPA scientists and management and we thank Susan Burden, Elaine Cohen Hubal, Peter Egeghy, Lynn Flowers, Jay Garland, Andrew Geller, Andrew Gillespie, Annette Guisseppi-Eli, R. Hines, Susan Glassmeyer, Tony Olsen, Kevin Oshima, Tom Pierce, Paul Price, Tom Speth, Lindsay Stanek, John Washington, Tim Watkins, Eric Burneson, Greg Carroll, Joyce Donahue, Jamie Strong, Amy Benson, Tony Krasnic, Laurence Libelo, Laura Nazef, Stiven Foster, Linda Gaines, Kathleen Raffaele, Carl Mazza, Amy Vasu, Susan Burden, Mike Barrette, Amanda Pruzinsky. Drew Pilant, and Sarah Lanier provided us with the UCMR 3 data. John Southerland provided partial funding. We also gratefully acknowledge contributions from other Federal Agencies including FDA (Paul South, Suzanne Fitzpatrick), HHS, DoD, USDA/FSIS (Lindsay Ward-Gokhale, Randolph Duverna), HUD. This document has been reviewed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, and approved for publication. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the US EPA. Mention of trade names and commercial products does not constitute endorsement by the US EPA. The research was funded by the US EPA’s National Program, Sustainable and Healthy Communities.

Funding

This research is funded by US EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities National Program.

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  1. Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Postdoctoral Research Participant at U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

    B. Cheng

  2. Office of Research and Development, Atmospheric and Environmental Systems Modeling Division, Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 109 TW Alexander Drive, Room E211-A, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

    K. Alapaty, M. Strynar & T. Buckley

  3. Office of Research and Development, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Boston, MA, USA

    V. Zartarian & A. Poulakos

  4. LinTech Global, Inc., 5 Post Office Square, Boston, MA, USA

    A. Poulakos

Authors
  1. B. Cheng
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  2. K. Alapaty
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  3. V. Zartarian
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  4. A. Poulakos
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  5. M. Strynar
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  6. T. Buckley
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Contributions

BC contributed to original draft, review and editing. KA contributed to conceptualization; methodology; original draft, review and editing. VZ contributed to conceptualization; methodology; review and editing. AP contributed to literature search and review. MS contributed to review and editing. TB contributed to review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. Alapaty.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors are also committed to ethical responsibilities, specifically, this manuscript has not been submitted to elsewhere for referred publication; the work of this manuscript is original review; the results are presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation; no data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own.

Human and animal rights

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Editorial responsibility: Agnieszka Galuszka.

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Cheng, B., Alapaty, K., Zartarian, V. et al. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure science: current knowledge, information needs, future directions. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 10393–10408 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03710-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03710-7

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