EWG || Human Toxome Project

chemical Class

Perfluorinated carboxylic acid

Chemicals in the class:

PFBA (Perfluorobutyric acid), PFDA (Perfluorodecanoic acid), PFDoA (Perfluorododecanoic acid), PFHpA (Perfluoroheptanoic acid), PFHxA (Perfluorohexanoic acid), PFNA (Perfluorononanoic acid), PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid), PFOSA (Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), PFOSAA, PFPeA (Perfluoro-n-pentanoic acid), PFTA (Perfluorotetradecanoic acid), PFUnA (Perfluoroundecanoic acid)

Found in these people:

Found in these locations:

Corpus Christi, TX; Green Bay, WI; New Orleans, LA; Rockville, MD; Upstate New York, NY; Silver Spring, MD; Washington, DC; Cambridge, MA; Bethesda, MD; Baltimore, MD; CA, USA; VA, USA; Milwaukee, WI; CO, USA; Littleton, CO; Belvedere, CA; Newton, MA; Fredericksburg, VA; Lamont, FL; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Stanford, CA; Palo Alto, CA; San Francisco, CA; Berkeley, CA; Alamo, CA; Fallbrook, CA; Oakland, CA; NY, USA; Ithaca, NY; Encinitas, CA; Ross, CA; MD, USA; Mountain View, CA

Summary

PFCs are industrial chemicals widely used as water, stain and grease repellants for food wrap, carpet, furniture, and clothing. The family includes such well known name brands as Scotchgard and Teflon.

PFCs are also released to the environment in air and water emissions at numerous manufacturing and processing facilities worldwide, including primary production sites such as DuPont's Washington Works facility, WV; 3M's Cottage Grove, MN site, and Daikin's Decatur, AL plant. PFCs are likely also released to the environment at countless secondary manufacturing facilities, including sites where consumer products are coated for water, stain, and grease repellency.

The dominant source of PFCs to the environment are likely fluorotelomer chemicals, the active ingredients in coatings of furniture, clothing, food packaging, and other products. Fluorotelomers break down in the environment and in the body to PFCs differing only in the carbon chain length and end group (Hagen, Belisle et al. 1981; Dinglasan, Ye et al. 2004).

Most PFCs are fairly mobile in water, but due to low volatility of the persistent carboxy acids and sulfonates many do not have the potential to migrate in air far from locations of its release as a manufacturing pollutant. In contrast, studies indicate that PFC telomers are relatively volatile and could migrate long distances through the atmosphere (Martin et al. 2004).

Fluorotelomers are a likely source of the persistent perfluorochemicals found in newborns in this study, and in wildlife and water in areas remote from manufacturing sites and human populations.

Available scientific findings to date show that PFCs widely contaminate human blood (Kannan, Choi et al. 2002; Olsen, Burris et al. 2002), that they persist in the body for decades (Burris, Lundberg et al. 2002), that they act through a broad range of toxic mechanisms of action to present potential harm to a wide range of organs (ovaries, liver, kidney, spleen, thymus, thyroid, pituitary, testis), and that they persist indefinitely in the environment with no known biological or environmental breakdown mechanism (3M 2000; 3M 2001; 3M 2001). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has described PFCs as combining "persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity properties to an extraordinary degree" (Auer 2000).

Perfluorinated carboxylic acid

Perfluorinated carboxylic acid has been found in 88 of the 88 people tested in EWG/Commonweal studies.

Top health concerns for Perfluorinated carboxylic acid (References)

health concern or target organ	weight of evidence
Cancer	possible
Birth defects and developmental delays	limited
Endocrine system	strong

Other health concerns for Perfluorinated carboxylic acid (References)

health concern or target organ	weight of evidence
Kidney and renal system	unknown
Reproduction and fertility	unknown
Brain and nervous system	unknown
Immune system (including sensitization and allergies)	unknown
Behavioral effects	unknown

Toxicity Classifications (References)

classification	governing entity/references
Behavioral effects - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed	York, R. (2002). Oral (gavage) two-generation (one litter per generation) reproduction study of ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in rats Report prepared for 3M, St. Paul, MN by Argus Research (Horsham, PA). Sponsor's Study No. T-6889.6., Reviewed in US EPA AR226-1092.
Developmental toxicant - limited evidence	York, R. (2002). Oral (gavage) two-generation (one litter per generation) reproduction study of ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in rats Report prepared for 3M, St. Paul, MN by Argus Research (Horsham, PA). Sponsor's Study No. T-6889.6., Reviewed in US EPA AR226-1092.
Endocrine disruptor	York, R. (2002). Oral (gavage) two-generation (one litter per generation) reproduction study of ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in rats Report prepared for 3M, St. Paul, MN by Argus Research (Horsham, PA). Sponsor's Study No. T-6889.6., Reviewed in US EPA AR226-1092.
Endocrine disruptor - suspected or limited evidence	York, R. (2002). Oral (gavage) two-generation (one litter per generation) reproduction study of ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in rats Report prepared for 3M, St. Paul, MN by Argus Research (Horsham, PA). Sponsor's Study No. T-6889.6., Reviewed in US EPA AR226-1092.
Immune system toxicity - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed	York, R. (2002). Oral (gavage) two-generation (one litter per generation) reproduction study of ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in rats Report prepared for 3M, St. Paul, MN by Argus Research (Horsham, PA). Sponsor's Study No. T-6889.6., Reviewed in US EPA AR226-1092.
Nervous system toxicity - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed	York, R. (2002). Oral (gavage) two-generation (one litter per generation) reproduction study of ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in rats Report prepared for 3M, St. Paul, MN by Argus Research (Horsham, PA). Sponsor's Study No. T-6889.6., Reviewed in US EPA AR226-1092.
Possible human carcinogen	EPA (2002). Revised draft hazard assessment of perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts, Environmental Protection Agency. U.S. EPA Administrative Record AR226-1136. November 4, 2002.
Renal system toxicity - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed	York, R. (2002). Oral (gavage) two-generation (one litter per generation) reproduction study of ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in rats Report prepared for 3M, St. Paul, MN by Argus Research (Horsham, PA). Sponsor's Study No. T-6889.6., Reviewed in US EPA AR226-1092.
Reproductive effects - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed	York, R. (2002). Oral (gavage) two-generation (one litter per generation) reproduction study of ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in rats Report prepared for 3M, St. Paul, MN by Argus Research (Horsham, PA). Sponsor's Study No. T-6889.6., Reviewed in US EPA AR226-1092.