Lecture
PFAS Analytics – A Persistent Challenge?
- at -
- ICM Saal 5
- Type: Lecture
Lecture description
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of chemical compounds that feature a fully (per) or partly (poly) fluorinated carbon chain linked to different functional groups. The widely used OECD definition of PFAS covers estimates of less than 1,000 compounds that are likely of global commercial importance (Buck et al., 2021) to over 38,000 – 7 million individual PFAS compounds in chemical databases (Williams et al., 2022, Schymanski, 2023). Since the 1990s, certain PFASs have garnered significant attention due to their widespread use, hazardous properties and ubiquitous detection in human populations and the global environment.
So far most of the scientific and regulatory work has been concentrated on a small subset of PFAS and a limited selection of human and environmental endpoints. But EU authorities are currently discussing a comprehensive PFAS restriction proposal. Major drawbacks in the discussion are the persistence, heterogeneity, and size of the PFAS compound class and the still significant gaps in our scientific knowledge to fully characterize and monitor PFAS in the environment, human population and products.
Therefore, innovative analytical advances are required, to support risk management and predictive models and thus enable inclusion into global regulatory programs. A crucial point of principle to discuss is how we can increase the analytical known space of PFAS by using harmonized analytical methods with an acceptable technological entry barrier and FAIR data management, as this will facilitate the adoption of both the data and the methods into voluntary and regulatory PFAS monitoring programs.
So far most of the scientific and regulatory work has been concentrated on a small subset of PFAS and a limited selection of human and environmental endpoints. But EU authorities are currently discussing a comprehensive PFAS restriction proposal. Major drawbacks in the discussion are the persistence, heterogeneity, and size of the PFAS compound class and the still significant gaps in our scientific knowledge to fully characterize and monitor PFAS in the environment, human population and products.
Therefore, innovative analytical advances are required, to support risk management and predictive models and thus enable inclusion into global regulatory programs. A crucial point of principle to discuss is how we can increase the analytical known space of PFAS by using harmonized analytical methods with an acceptable technological entry barrier and FAIR data management, as this will facilitate the adoption of both the data and the methods into voluntary and regulatory PFAS monitoring programs.
