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Commentary: cumulative risk assessment of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids and perfluoralkyl sulfonic acids: what is the scientific support for deriving tolerable exposures by assembling 27 PFAS into 1 common assessment group?

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Abstract

This commentary proposes an approach to risk assessment of mixtures of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) as EFSA was tasked to derive a tolerable intake for a group of 27 PFAS. The 27 PFAS to be considered contain different functional groups and have widely variable physicochemical (PC) properties and toxicokinetics and thus should not treated as one group based on regulatory guidance for risk assessment of mixtures. The proposed approach to grouping is to split the 27 PFAS into two groups, perfluoroalkyl carboxylates and perfluoroalkyl sulfonates, and apply a relative potency factor approach (as proposed by RIVM) to obtain two separate group TDIs based on liver toxicity in rodents since liver toxicity is a sensitive response of rodents to PFAS. Short chain PFAS and other PFAS structures should not be included in the groups due to their low potency and rapid elimination. This approach is in better agreement with scientific and regulatory guidance for mixture risk assessment.

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Acknowledgements

3M, the company that funded portions of this research, previously manufactured products containing perfluorooctanoyl chemistries, including PFOA and PFOS. The 3M support was to Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Dekant, a retired professor of toxicology at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Würzburg and today an independent consultant to several REACH consortia, trade organization and individual companies.

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  1. CiS Toxicology, Osorno, Chile

    Thomas Colnot

  2. Department of Toxicology, Institut für Toxikologie, University of Würzburg, Versbacher Strasse 9, 97078, Würzburg, Germany

    Wolfgang Dekant

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Colnot, T., Dekant, W. Commentary: cumulative risk assessment of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids and perfluoralkyl sulfonic acids: what is the scientific support for deriving tolerable exposures by assembling 27 PFAS into 1 common assessment group?. Arch Toxicol 96, 3127–3139 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-022-03336-9

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