For decades per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been employed in a variety of products intended for everyday use, such as cosmetics, food packaging, textiles and household products, as well as for specialised applications including mechanical components, electronics, medical devises, fire-fighting foams and biocides, which require unique chemical properties conferred by the extremely stable carbon-fluorine bond. They became a ubiquitous contaminant in different environmental matrices due mainly to intensive industrial production and inappropriate disposal. Chemical stability and mobility of PFAS has lead to their accumulation in soil, sediment, groundwater, surface water and atmosphere worldwide heavily impacting living organisms.
In the EU legislation, the recast of the Drinking Water Directive (DWD) included for the first time 20 PFAS to be analysed as two chemical parameters: the “sum of PFASs” intended as a sum of PFAS considered in the recast with the parametric (limit) value of 0.10 μg/L, and “PFASs - total” meaning the “totality of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances” with the threshold concentration of 0.50 μg/L. The monitoring of environmental waterbodies for PFAS under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is only based on the concentrations of PFOS and its derivatives included among the Priority Substances (PS). In future perspective, Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability towards toxic-free environments under the EU Green Deal will address PFAS and some of the related knowledge gaps. In particular, revisions of the current regulatory documents are aimed to reduce the emissions of PFAS to the environment and to establish their safety limits from dietary sources. Extending the assessment of PFAS as a group encompassing more substances instead of measuring chemicals one-by-one is expected to provide a better protection of human health and the environment. A coordinated mechanism at European level will be developed in order to simplify and synchronise the safety assessment of chemicals across various pieces of legislation, while further phasing out of PFAS for non-essential uses will be regulated under REACH. At global level, the concerns regarding the presence of PFAS in the environment will be targeted by Basel and Stockholm Conventions
Niegowska, M.Z., Pretto, P., Porcel Rodriguez, E., Marinov, D., Ceriani, L. and Lettieri, T., Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) of possible concern in the aquatic environment, EUR 30710 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2021, ISBN 978-92-76-37868-6, doi:10.2760/968570, JRC125254.
2021-05-27
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC125254
978-92-76-37867-9 (online) , 978-92-76-37868-6 (print)
1831-9424 (online) , 1018-5593 (print)
EUR 30710 EN , OP KJ-NA-30710-EN-N (online) , OP KJ-NA-30710-EN-C (print)
