40 Air Monitoring
CLEARING THE AIR: USING TESTING TO SHIELD AGAINST THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF PFAS
The average human breathes in around 22.8m3
of air per day1 , much of which
contains chemicals contaminants that can have serious health consequences. Regulation is an important tool for protecting public health, but it is only a part of the solution; accurate detection is also essential to guide and enforce regulation, especially given the growing concerns over certain ‘emerging’ compounds, including Per- and Polyfl uorinated Alkyl substances (PFAS).
These are used in a range of industrial and commercial manufacturing processes as well as everyday retail goods, including some forms of consumer packaging. This large, complex group of synthetic chemicals contains a chain of linked carbon and fl uorine atoms that is highly resistant to degradation, hence them also being known as “forever chemicals”.
Their ability to bind to proteins in exposed organisms, and resistance to metabolic biodegradation and excretion, is a major cause for concern as they have health repercussions, including the potential to cause birth defects and reduce the effectiveness of the human immune system2
. Moreover, they
readily accumulate in the environment. However, until recently they weren’t thought to be present in the air.
For many years, people didn’t think PFAS were airborne because they were not thought to be volatile enough. That perception has changed as a result of manufacturers shifting to shorter-chain PFAS compounds, which have suffi cient volatility to make them present in the air. The fi rst source of airborne PFAS comes from direct industry emissions, where these volatile compounds are released during the manufacturing process. The second is the widespread use of PFAS in home and consumer products – such as carpets and nonstick pots and pans – where day-to-day wear and tear is also releasing the compounds into the atmosphere.
There’s a third source of airborne PFAS: waste incineration. This can destroy the synthetic chemicals, but incomplete combustion can create smaller PFAS compounds that are volatile enough to be present in the air. It’s therefore little wonder that tests are being developed to investigate airborne PFAS, but it’s early days. For example, there are just two standardized test methods from the US EPA to measure PFAS in air: OTM45, which uses liquid chromatography with a mass spectrometer, and OTM50, which uses a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. The differences in the methods refl ect differing test goals: one is more applicable to measuring stack emissions using canisters, while the other is specifi cally deployed to trap certain kinds of PFAS.
There needs to be a collective approach to the measurement of these volatile compounds. As part of this approach, the company is supporting Professor Jennifer Field from the Environmental and Molecular Toxicology Department at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences3
. She’s not only the
recipient of an Agilent Thought Leader Award, presented in 2023, the professor has also received equipment and a donation of more than $500,000 to advance her work in PFAS measurement.
This type of collaborative approach will be key to developing a cohesive strategy to mitigate the health impact of PFAS. A combination of informed regulation and reliable testing will produce the best results. The good news is that progress is already being made.
Professor Jennifer Field
contamination levels and identify the various types of PFAS (per- and polyfl uoroalkyl substances) present in the air. Developing a prudent management strategy hinges on having accurate data.
This is a dynamic area of research for Agilent, which has more than 15 years of experience in PFAS testing and over 50 years of market leadership in environmental testing instrumentation. The company strongly believes that providing environmental solutions and test methods will help scientists understand the magnitude of the PFAS problem. It’s not about passing judgment on PFAS; there are a lot of legitimate uses where the compounds save lives. For example, they’re used in pacemakers and fi refi ghting foams.
That’s why Agilent is working with regulatory agencies, researchers and the wider testing lab industry on PFAS analysis in the air.
References 1 EPA: Exposure Factors Handbook (EPA 2011)
2 EPA: Our Current Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS
3 Agilent Announces Thought Leader Award to Professor Jennifer Field, November 13, 2023
Author Contact Details Tarun Anumol, Agilent Global Environment Market Director • Agilent • Email:
tarun.anumol@agilent.com • Web:
www.agilent.com
Developing a test regime
Until we have established methodologies for testing for airborne PFAS, we won’t know the extent of contamination. After all, you can’t effectively manage something that you can’t measure. The initial step is to create a comprehensive understanding of the
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