Health risks, PFCs

Several studies have suggested that some critical adverse effects like peroxisome proliferation, hepatotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and developmental toxicity may be associated with chemical exposure to PFCs, particularly to PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), two ubiquitous persistent organic pollutants with possible environmental and human health risks. 

Zhao et al. [105] have been calculated the hazard ratio (HR) of PFOS for fish consumption and the risks and potential effects of PFCs to health of coastal population in the Pearl River Delta. Due to the contamination levels of more consumed species (mandarin fish, bighead carp, grass carp and tUapia), the authors have concluded that the levels of PFCs in these fish species might pose an unacceptable risk to human health. 

The characterisation of health hazards of food contaminants, the assessment of the occurrence of undesirable compounds in food and the estimation of the dietary intake are key issues in the risk assessment. In 2000, the European Commission published a White Paper on Food Safety, which underlined the importance of ensuring the highest possible standards of food safety and proposed a new approach to achieve them. Recently, PFCs have gained increased scientific and socioeconomic interest as emerging environmental contaminants due to the unique combination of persistence, toxicity and environmental prevalence. Risk assessment of the dietary exposure to PFCs, however, is hampered by the lack of sufficient data about the occurrence of these contaminants in food. 

More recently, several authors studied the possible association between fish consumption and levels of PFCs in human blood [138], as well as the evaluation of the risk associated with fish consumption [73, 139]. In recognition of the potential for human exposure to PFCs via fish consumption, the Minnesota Department of Health has issued fish consumption advisories for contaminated sections of the Mississippi River (Minnesota Department of Health 2007). This advisory suggests that people limit their intake of fish to no more than one meal a week if PFOS levels in fillet exceed 38 ng/g. 

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