Perfluorinated Chemicals in the Environment: The history of an Environmental Issue

John P. Giesy, Ph.D.
Professor & Canada Research Chair in Environmental Toxicology
Dept. Veterinary Biomedical Sciences
University of Saskatchewan

邮箱: john.giesy@usask.ca
个人网页: http://www.usask.ca/toxicology/jgiesy/

时间: 2月16日(星期一)上午 10:00-11:30

地点: 曾呈奎楼 B-206

讲座摘要:

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and particularly the perfluorinated fatty acids (FFAs) such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctane carboxylic acid (PFOA) have been found in tissues of wildlife species in many parts of the world.  Because of its their low vapor pressure and the fact that they are used in polymers that were thought to be inert it was not expected to move in the environment or be accumulated into animals it is surprising that the PCFs have become so widely distributed in the environment.  Furthermore, accurate and sensitive analytical methods were unavailable until recently.  For these reasons little information on the environmental fate of PFOS was available until 2000 (1-3).  Here, I present the chemical-physical properties of PFCs and discuss how it is different from more traditionally studied neutral, diaromatic halogenated compounds.  Uses and potential sources of PFOS are presented (4, 5).  Concentrations of PFOS in tissues of different species from different habitats, eco-regions and trophic levels are discussed relative to potential sources of exposure and trophic transfer.  An overview of the toxic properties of PFCs including mechanisms of action and toxic reference values will be given (6, 7).