Scientific evaluation reveals dietary exposure to PFOS and PFOA exceeds tolerable weekly intakes in human populations, highlighting significant immune and metabolic health risks.
Key Points
Evaluate the human health risks associated with dietary exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
Evaluated a European dietary exposure dataset comprising 20,019 analytical results (PFOS n = 10,191; PFOA n = 9,828) across various food and beverage categories.
Performed benchmark dose modeling using human epidemiological data linking serum concentrations to adverse endpoints to establish health-based guidance values.
Established tolerable weekly intakes (TWIs) of 13 ng/kg body weight per week for PFOS and 6 ng/kg body weight per week for PFOA based on critical effects including increased serum total cholesterol and reduced vaccination antibody response.
Identified main dietary contributors to lower bound chronic exposure as fish, meat, and eggs for PFOS, and dairy products, drinking water, and fish for PFOA.
Found that chronic dietary exposure in a considerable proportion of the human population exceeds the proposed tolerable weekly intakes for both compounds.