Zürich Statement on Future Actions on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs).

Ritscher A; Wang Z; Scheringer M; Boucher JM; Ahrens L; Berger U; Bintein S; Bopp SK; Borg D; Buser AM; Cousins I; DeWitt J; Fletcher T; Green C; Herzke D; Higgins C; Huang J; Hung H; Knepper T; Lau CS; Leinala E; Lindstrom AB; Liu J; Miller M; Ohno K; Perkola N; Shi Y; Småstuen Haug L; Trier X; Valsecchi S; van der Jagt K; Vierke L

doi:10.1289/EHP4158

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Zürich Statement on Future Actions on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs).

Ritscher A Safety and Environmental Technology Group, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zürich , Zürich, Switzerland.
Wang Z Chair of Ecological Systems Design, Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich , Zürich, Switzerland.
Scheringer M Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich , Zürich, Switzerland.
Boucher JM Safety and Environmental Technology Group, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zürich , Zürich, Switzerland.
Ahrens L Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) , Uppsala, Sweden.
Berger U Department of Analytical Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ , Leipzig, Germany.
Bintein S Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission , Brussels, Belgium.
Bopp SK Joint Research Centre, European Commission , Ispra, Italy.
Borg D Swedish Chemicals Agency , Stockholm, Sweden.
Buser AM Industrial Chemicals Section, Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) , Bern, Switzerland.
Cousins I Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES), Stockholm University , Stockholm, Sweden.
DeWitt J Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University , Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Fletcher T Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine , London, UK.
Green C Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London, UK.
Herzke D Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), FRAM - High North Research Centre on Climate and the Environment , Tromsø, Norway.
Higgins C Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines , Golden, Colorado, USA.
Huang J Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Organic Contaminants Control (BKLEOCC), School of Environment, POPs Research Center, Tsinghua University , Beijing, China.
Hung H Air Quality Processes Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada , Toronto, Canada.
Knepper T Hochschule Fresenius , Idstein, Germany.
Lau CS United States Environmental Protection Agency , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.
Leinala E Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, France.
Lindstrom AB United States Environmental Protection Agency , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.
Liu J Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, McGill University , Montreal, Canada.
Miller M National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences & U.S. Public Health Service , Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Ohno K Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research , National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan.
Perkola N Finnish Environment Institute , Helsinki, Finland.
Shi Y Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, China.
Småstuen Haug L Department of Environmental Exposure and Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health , Oslo, Norway.
Trier X Integrated Environmental Assessments Programme, European Environment Agency , Copenhagen, Denmark.
Valsecchi S IRSA-CNR, Water Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy , Brugherio, Italy.
van der Jagt K Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission , Brussels, Belgium.
Vierke L German Environment Agency , Dessau-Roßlau, Germany.

2018-09-21

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Environmental health perspectives. - 2018

English Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are man-made chemicals that contain at least one perfluoroalkyl moiety, [Formula: see text]. To date, over 4,000 unique PFASs have been used in technical applications and consumer products, and some of them have been detected globally in human and wildlife biomonitoring studies. Because of their extraordinary persistence, human and environmental exposure to PFASs will be a long-term source of concern. Some PFASs such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) have been investigated extensively and thus regulated, but for many other PFASs, knowledge about their current uses and hazards is still very limited or missing entirely. To address this problem and prepare an action plan for the assessment and management of PFASs in the coming years, a group of more than 50 international scientists and regulators held a two-day workshop in November, 2017. The group identified both the respective needs of and common goals shared by the scientific and the policy communities, made recommendations for cooperative actions, and outlined how the science-policy interface regarding PFASs can be strengthened using new approaches for assessing and managing highly persistent chemicals such as PFASs. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4158.

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