First Commercial Perfluorochemicals Found in Human Blood, University of Toronto

ACS -- For the first time, a group of perfluorochemicals used on food wrappers has been identified in human blood at low part-per-billion concentrations. The chemicals, known as polyfluoroalkyl phosphoric acid diesters (diPAPs), also were found at concentrations about 100 times higher in sewage sludge. These findings, published in ES&T (DOI 10.1021/es900100d) by chemistry graduate student Jessica D’eon at the University of Toronto and colleagues, provide new clues about people’s exposure to perfluorochemicals but further complicate investigations into the fate and transport of these compounds, say academic scientists.