Poly- and perfluroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment

Melanie Kah; Rai Kookana

doi:10.1515/ci-2023-0220

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Poly- and perfluroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment

Melanie Kah and Rai Kookana

Published/Copyright: April 10, 2023

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From the journal Chemistry International Volume 45 Issue 2

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a major environmental concern globally due to their widespread usage and persistence. They found widespread applications in industry due to their unique chemistry of having both hydrophilic and hydrophobic (surfactant-like) properties. However, concerns about these chemicals have been growing due to their long-term persistence in the environment, potential for bioaccumulation and toxicity to human and ecological health.

In 2001, when it was realized that PFASs are bioaccumulative, PFAS production started to be phased out in Western Countries. However, it continued in Asia thus shifting the problem to emerging economies. Unfortunately, the true extent of PFAS problem has not been yet recognized in the emerging economies and this may become a serious issue for the local environments and population.

With the aim of raising awareness around this important environmental issue, IUPAC Division VI held a symposium on “Poly- and Perfluroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Environment” on Monday 7 November 2022 in Siem Reap (Cambodia) as part of the AP CE-CECE-ITP-IUPAC 2022 Conference.

This symposium was part of IUPAC Project 2019-029-1-600 “Per and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the environment: Information for emerging economies on PFASs analyses in environmental media and their impacts on human health” led by Melanie Kah of the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The project, through a multidisciplinary approach, aims at coping with three overarching aspects around PFAS, namely: analytical chemistry in environmental media, human health effects from environmental exposure, and PFAS management response by regulatory and policy agencies.

At the PFAS symposium, nine speakers represented a diversity of perspectives and approaches to tackle the PFAS environmental problem across the USA, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, China and Canada.

The first session was chaired by Rai Kookana (CSIRO/ University of Adelaide, Australia) to set the scene by covering general aspects related to the challenges of dealing with contamination with PFAS. Topics included the behaviour of PFAS in soil by the keynote speaker Christopher Higgins (Colorado School of Mines, USA), occurrence and fate in wastewater treatment plants, risk assessment, management, and remediation of PFAS. Other speakers included Karl Bowles (RPS AAP Consulting Pty Ltd), Melanie Kah, Balwant Singh (University of Sydney, Australia), and Divina Navarro (CSIRO/University of Adelaide, Australia).

The second session was chaired by Melanie Kah (IUPAC Project Task Group Chair), and covered aspects more specific to Asia. These included the biomonitoring work carried out by the keynote speaker, Michael Velarde (University of the Philippines Diliman), an overview on data available on the occurrence of PFAS in soil and water in Asia, and China in particular. Other speakers were Rai Kookana, Guang-Guo Ying (South China Normal University, China) and Zoltan Mester (National Research Council of Canada).

https://iupac.org/project/2019-029-1-600/

Online erschienen: 2023-04-10

Erschienen im Druck: 2023-04-01

© 2023 IUPAC & De Gruyter. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information, please visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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