PFAs, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of man-made substances in use since the 1940s for industrial purposes and consumer products such as firefighting foams, mining, electronic chemicals, floor polishes, carpet treatment, food packaging, photo film, denture cleaners, soap, shampoos, cosmetics, non-stick coating in cookware, oil repellents for leather, and surfactants for manufacturing of industries like metal, textile, and paper. While there are more than 4,700 identified PFA chemicals, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and their precursors are the most commonly encountered PFAS in the environment. As a result, they are also currently the two most extensively studied perfluorinated compounds.
PFAS are used in a wide variety of consumer products, industrial applications, and manufacturing processes because of their unique chemical and physical properties, including oil and water repellence, temperature and chemical resistance, and surfactant properties. However, these unique properties also allow PFAS to be persistent environmental contaminants due to their resistance to natural breakdown processes. It is estimated that these chemicals can last in the environment anywhere from 256 to 25,000 years. PFOA and PFOS have these properties in particular due to their longer chemical makeup of fluoride-carbon chains. To help reduce their impact on the environment, these specific PFAS are no longer used for the most part, particularly in the United States, but they have been replaced by smaller chain PFAS. The impact that these shorter PFAs have on the environment and health of the human population is still relatively unknown and being researched.
Both PFOS and PFOA were listed in Annex B and Annex A of the Stockholm Convention as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in 2009 and 2019 respectively, causing a strong abatement of use in manufacturing industries worldwide. As a result, numbers for these contaminants are on the decline overall, but PFOS and PFOA are still frequently detected in drinking water around the world, such as in the U.S, Japan, Australia, and China. In general, PFAS tend to be more common in wastewater and drinking water of developed countries that have denser populations and places that have produced PFA products. However, these chemicals can be transported long distances and are globally distributed in the aquatic environment.
Measurable levels of the PFAS have been detected in human blood, tissues, and breast milk. Studies of blood samples in the general human population find PFOS and PFOA, indicating that exposure to these chemicals is widespread. Exposure to high levels of PFAS has been found to have a number of adverse health effects to people, including in the endocrine system such as on the liver and thyroid, as well as metabolic effects, developmental effects, neurotoxicity, and immunotoxicity. Research on how different levels of exposure affect health is still ongoing, particularly for children. PFA exposure tends to come from drinking water, food, consumer products containing PFAS, and dust. PFOA and PFOS can also be absorbed by edible plants like fruit and vegetables from irrigation water and soil.
A big concern with PFAS is their tendency to bioaccumulate, especially the longer chain PFOA and PFOS. Bioaccumulation is when the PFAS bind to tissues, in this case proteins, and stay in the body for approximately 2 to 9 years. Toxicology studies find PFOS and PFOA are readily absorbed after exposure, especially oral exposure, and tend to collect in the blood serum, kidneys, and liver. While recent levels found in human blood have been decreasing, the concentrations of PFOA and PFOS still exceed recommended safe benchmark dose levels, particularly in children.
Some of the adverse health effects associated with PFAS include:
Conventional water treatment processes commonly used for municipal water treatment by cities, including coagulation, sand filtration, sedimentation, oxidation and disinfection are not effective in removing PFAS. In addition, recent studies have found many home water filtration systems are also ineffective at protecting against these chemicals. Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems and under-the-sink systems that use activated carbon, particularly granular activated carbon (GAC), can absorb high rates of PFAS under the right conditions, including carbon amount, water temperature, and PH levels.
Fortunately, there is a new option available that is highly effective at removing PFAS as well as other unwanted contaminants from your drinking water. SpiroPure CC1 Series catalytic carbon filter cartridges employ the use of GAC filter media that is highly activated by catalyzed iron-hydroxide. The high activation rate causes a greater absorption of PFAS, chloramines, and more that is not accomplished by other carbon filters and most water treatment methods.
Copyright © 2024 All Filters LLC. All rights reserved.