Potential exposure of perfluorinated compounds to Chinese in Shenyang and Yangtze River Delta areas

Abstract

Environmental contextA total of 21 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) including PFOS were quantified in river waters, sewage, sea waters, shallow ground waters as well as fish and domestic poultry, focussed on the main river basins in Shenyang and the Yangtze River Delta areas, China. The distribution characteristics of PFCs in the aquatic environment and evaluation of the potential risk for human health via the diet of fish was discussed. Comprehensive research was carried out using the world leading knowledge about PFOS-related chemicals in AIST, Japan to enable reliable evaluation of PFOS risk in Chinese environments, supported by ISO25101. AbstractA total of 21 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) were quantified in water and biota samples collected from Shenyang in North-east China and the Yangtze River Delta area in East China. The human health risk owing to intake of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) via fish and domestic poultry dietary was evaluated. The total PFC concentration (∑PFC) in water samples from the rivers in Shenyang averaged 5.32 ng L–1, with PFOS and PFOA as the predominant compounds. The urban sewage could be the source of PFOS and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) in the surface waters. The total PFCs in water samples from the Yangtze River Delta area ranged from 42.4 to 170 ng L–1. The highest concentrations of most PFCs were observed in waters from the Shanghai section of the Yangtze River. In the biota samples, PFOS and PFUnDA (perfluoroundecanoic acid) were the most abundant. The acceptable daily intake (ADI) and hazard ratio (HR) values for PFOS and PFOA intake through the diet of fish and poultry in the studied areas were calculated, and showed that the HR values for PFOS and PFOA are all less than 1.0 for both the areas.