Perfluorinated Compounds: An Overview

This chapter provides an overarching introduction to the subject matter of this volume: toxicology and health effects of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). It highlights briefly the unique chemical and physical properties of these chemicals, their production history and commercial uses, and their environmental and health concerns. The distribution profiles of these persistent contaminants in environmental media, wildlife and humans, as well as potential pathways of human exposure are characterized. General toxicological features of these chemicals include major species and sex differences in pharmacokinetic disposition among congeners with different carbon-chain lengths and functional groups, and differential potencies based on their primary mechanism of action, i.e., activation of the nuclear receptor PPARα. Current understanding of adverse effects associated with PFC exposure based on laboratory animal models include hepatotoxicity, tumor induction, developmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity and endocrine disruption. Associations and probable links between exposure to some PFCs and adverse health outcomes in humans have been suggested by recent epidemiological reports. Ecological and human health risk assessments of these chemicals are still in their infancy. Each of these sub-topics will be expanded into full discussion in subsequent chapters. Importantly, a new generation of fluorinated chemicals has already emerged in commerce, with little information regarding their environmental fate and distribution as well as potential health effects. Materials presented in this volume should provide a scientific basis to inform the design of safe replacement products for the current crop of perfluorinated chemicals that promises to be less persistent and prevalent in the environment.