Human Biomonitoring of Perfluorinated Compounds

Abstract

Human biomonitoring (HBM) is a scientific technique for assessing human exposures to natural and synthetic compounds in the environment. It is based on analysis of human tissues and fluids. It provides the only direct method of determining if people have been exposed to particular substances, what the magnitudes of their exposures are, and how these may be changing over time. In HBM, the most commonly studied perfluorinated compounds are the perfluorinated sulfonates and the perfluorinated carboxylates. Among these perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are of greatest concern. Our first biomonitoring study from autumn 2006 evidenced that plasma PFOA concentrations of residents from Arnsberg were 4.5–8.3 times higher than those in reference groups. A 10–20% reduction of PFOA plasma levels in residents from Arnsberg, Sauerland, Germany, was observed in our 1-year follow-up study. A further but still slow decline of the PFOA load was confirmed in the 2-year follow-up study. Detailed monitoring of perfluorinated compounds in the Region Sauerland also revealed high contamination of fish with PFOS. We observed high PFOS levels in plasma of anglers which was clearly related to the consumption of fish caught from the Möhnelake. Due to uncertainties and inconsistencies in the epidemiological studies, no health-based HBM values for perfluorinated compounds in blood could be set from the available data yet. A further approach to interpret perfluorinated compounds levels in HBM is to derive HBM values from corresponding tolerable intake doses, such like the tolerable daily intake (TDI). This concept has been proposed by the German Human Biomonitoring Commission (2007). The Commission is aware of the uncertainties of such derivation and estimates.