Table 1 Summary of concerns about PFOA under environmental aspects

Environmental persistence

no degradation observed

[32]

Findings and distributions in surface waters

n.d. – 3640 ng L⁻¹ PFOA in river water

[2]

0. 4 – 16 ng L⁻¹ PFOA in lake water

two orders of magnitude higher concentrations in coastal areas compared to open ocean waters

15 – 192000 pg L⁻¹ PFOA in oceans

[35]

flux of 14 t PFOA per year from rivers into oceans in Europe

[37]

1.2 g PFOA daily mass load from a WWTP (Germany) into a river

[38]

< MDL – 204 ng L⁻¹ PFOA in a river (USA)

[39]

< LOD – 10.7 ng L⁻¹ PFOA in a river (China)

[40]

Long-range transport and findings in remote regions

up to 3.4 ng g⁻¹ ww PFOA in polar bears

[1]

<LOD – 1.2 PFOA ng g⁻¹ ww in fish from the Arctic

n.d. – 0.14 ng g⁻¹ ww PFOA in seabirds from the Arctic

n.d. – 1.6 ng g⁻¹ ww PFOA in whales from the Arctic

0.44 – 1.4 pg m⁻³ in atmospheric particles from the Arctic

13.1 – 520 pg L⁻¹ in snow of ice caps from the Arctic

[41]

<30 – 182 pg L⁻¹ in surface waters from the Arctic

Findings and accumulation in food webs and top predators

1.3 – 2.7 ng g⁻¹ ww PFOA in waterbird liver

[42]

increasing concentrations in polar bears, 0.6 – 14 μg kg⁻¹ in 1990 and 11.8 – 17.6 μg kg⁻¹ in 2006

[43]

43 ng g⁻¹ ww in blood plasma of dolphins

[4]

up to 6.2 ng g⁻¹ ww in arctic ringed seal liver

[44]

<LOQ – 45 μg kg⁻¹ PFOA in liver and < LOQ – 7.4 μg kg⁻¹ PFOA in muscle tissue of wild boars

[45]

Findings in food

2.6 ng g⁻¹ PFOA in roast beef

[46]

0.74 ng g⁻¹ PFOA in pizza

3.6 ng g⁻¹ PFOA in microwave pop corn

<0.25 – 4.4 ng g⁻¹ ww PFOA in edible fish

[47]

Findings in drinking water

up to 519 ng L⁻¹ PFOA (Germany, after use of contaminated soil improver)

[48]

0.3 – 6.3 ng L⁻¹ PFOA in tap-water (Spain)

[49]

<0.2 – 0.7 ng L⁻¹ PFOA in bottled water

1.0 – 2.9 ng L⁻¹ PFOA (Italy)

[50]

0.65 – 2.5 ng L⁻¹ PFOA (Norway)

[51]

mean 23 ng L⁻¹ PFOA (Germany)

[13]

up to 13.3 μg L^-1 PFOA in wells close to a fluoropolymer production facility

[52]

<0.5 – 9.7 ng L^-1 PFOA (Australia)

[53]

Precursors in the environment

27 pg m⁻³ 8:2 FTOH in the atmosphere of the Northern Hemisphere

[54]

7.8 pg m⁻³ 8:2 FTOH in the atmosphere of the Southern Hemisphere

8.1 – 17.4 pg m⁻³ 8:2 FTOH in indoor air of residential houses

[55]

79 – 209 pg m⁻³ 8:2 FTOH in stores selling outdoor equipment

47 – 200 ng g⁻¹ PAPs in wastewater treatment plant sludge

[24]

3 – 82 pg L⁻¹ perfluorooctyl iodide (PFOI) in ambient air

[25]