An overview of the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)

An overview of the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Juliane Glüge Martin Scheringer Ian T. Cousins Jamie C. DeWitt Gretta Goldenman Dorte Herzke Rainer Lohmann Carla A. Ng Xenia Trier Zhanyun Wang

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An overview of the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) 2020 Environmental Science Processes & Impacts 10.1039/d0em00291g gluge2020-an-overview-of-the-uses-of-per-and gluge2020-an-overview-of-the-uses-of-per-and.txt, the project's staged copy 7e42c019b05c6b78943477b712eb4e34c3ef1486 cc-by-nc environmental-science

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0 spans located by searching the stored text for the quote's exact words, allowing any whitespace between them where per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are used, what job they do there, and how much of what is knowable at all from the registers that record chemical use Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. in which use categories PFAS have been employed and for which function, which individual substances, and whether the uses can be ranked by quantity Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. more than 200 use categories and subcategories for more than 1400 individual PFAS - five times the previous standard compilation - with the function and the enabling property named for each, and every source's blind spot stated and where possible sized Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. existence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. a class of thousands of extremely persistent substances used across almost every industry branch, whose extent cannot be established because the quantities are commercial secrets and the registers exempt whole categories Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. review review Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. PFAS are 100 to 1000 times more expensive than hydrocarbon alternatives, so they are bought only where extreme stability, wide temperature range or very low surface energy are required. The carbon-fluorine bond supplies all three - and the same bond is why the substance does not degrade after the product is discarded. Utility and persistence are not correlated here, they are the same fact the property that sells it is the property that keeps it Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. every quantity in this paper comes from a register with a declared exclusion: a reporting threshold of 11.34 t at a single site, statutory exemptions for foodstuffs medicines and cosmetics, no duty to declare solid articles, and confidentiality over more than 80% of the volumes. The inventory is therefore a map of the disclosure regime, and the paper says so instead of presenting it as a map of use an inventory bounded by what registers agree to record Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. PFAS membership has been defined three times, each wider or narrower in a different place, and every number in this literature - how many substances, how many uses, how much tonnage - is a number under one of them. The paper states which one it uses and exactly where it departs from the others a class boundary that moves the count Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. two voluntary programmes removed the best-known PFAS from two manufacturers' portfolios; other companies were not prevented from taking the market, enforcement was very limited, and substances that break down into the same acids remain in medical devices, apparel and semiconductor manufacture substitution without regulation Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the searches were not exhaustive in any source, and the authors say there are many more reports, studies, patents, safety data sheets and databases than those used Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. more than 80% of the volume entries in the US Chemical Data Reporting database are confidential, so the certainty of the quantity information is low Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the extent of the uncertainty introduced by confidentiality in the SPIN database cannot be estimated from the available data and could be large Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the Nordic data may not represent other regions - the registers exempt foodstuffs, medicines and cosmetics, and there is no PFAS or fluoropolymer production there Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. neither database covers PFAS in finished articles, which removes most of the manufacturing done outside the EU and US Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. seventy PFAS from the Chinese inventory are absent from this one because no information on their intended use was provided Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. some register categories were too broad to map onto the study's use categories, and those substances and their quantities were dropped Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. in 4% of cases the function of the PFAS could not be determined and in 21% the property needed to fulfil that function could not be determined Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. uses may be missing entirely - PFAS were found in climbing ropes and no information was found on climbing harnesses, and no industry interviews were possible Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the coverage claim for the general use categories is qualitative, and subcategories are quite possibly missing Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. industrial blends can be 80% of the registered substance, so impurities, reaction by-products and degradation products are present alongside the intended PFAS Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. REACH data covering more countries were excluded because its tonnage bands attach to substances rather than to use categories - the wrong unit for this question Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the essential-use test, carried from the Montreal Protocol's ozone regime into chemicals policy, where the question becomes which uses of a persistent substance justify themselves rather than whether the substance is harmful Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. suspect-screening by accurate mass spectrometry, supplied here with a list of exact monoisotopic masses per use category so that a laboratory can look for substances nobody has yet measured Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. commercial market reports excluded from the study entirely, although they cover the quantities the study most wants eliminates: an unverifiable figure entering the inventory - the reports do not state their sources, so a number taken from one could not be checked by anyone, including the authors · outcome: held Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. REACH data excluded, despite covering more countries than the Nordic registers used, because its tonnage bands attach to substances and not to use categories eliminates: a quantity reported against the wrong denominator being read as a use-category quantity - only single-use substances would have been informative and the rest would have carried invented precision · outcome: held Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. every substance-use link labelled by the KIND of evidence behind it - P for patent, D for analytically detected, U for a reported use - and the three shares reported eliminates: a patented possibility and an observed use counting as the same fact; 42% of the 2400 links are patents and the reader is told which · outcome: held Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the study's own use categories compared against the independently built SPIN category list, to test whether whole categories had been missed eliminates: the compilation's coverage resting on the compilers' own imagination - an external classification is asked what it has that this one does not, and it had three · outcome: partial Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the count of substances stated as a count of what this search found, next to the figure a reader would otherwise take it for eliminates: the study's own reach being read as the size of the market - said before the numbers rather than after them · outcome: held Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. two use categories reported with NO substances identified rather than dropped - ammunition and the nuclear industry eliminates: a category disappearing because the search failed in it; the empty result is printed where a reader can see which categories it applies to · outcome: held Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the 11.34 t single-site reporting threshold under TSCA, below which no substance appears in the volume data at all eliminates: substances below the 11.34 t single-site threshold - they do not appear in the volume data at all, so the totals are a floor and not an estimate · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): absent-declared-unreported Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the statutory exemptions in the Nordic registers - foodstuffs, medicinal products, cosmetics, solid articles, and anything under 0.1 t per year eliminates: products under the statutory exemptions - foodstuffs, medicinal products, cosmetics, solid articles and anything under 0.1 t a year are absent from the Nordic registers by law · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): absent-declared-unreported Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. PFAS PFAS Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. persistent persistent Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. CBI CBI Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. SPIN database SPIN database Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. patents patents Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. use categories use categories Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. articles articles Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. essential uses essential uses Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. fluorosurfactants fluorosurfactants Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. PTFE PTFE Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. what counts as a PFAS - UNDER BUCK ET AL. 2011: aliphatic substances with the -CnF2n+1 moiety, n at least 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. what counts as a PFAS - UNDER THE OECD/UNEP PROPOSAL: also substances containing -CnF2n-, on grounds of structural similarity Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. what counts as a PFAS - IN THIS STUDY: the OECD position plus both-ended perfluorocarbon chains, side-chain aromatics and fluorinated cycloaliphatics, minus non-polymers carrying only -CF3 or -CF2- except the ethers. The 1400 is a count under this one Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the number of PFAS per use category - AS THE PAPER MEANS IT: what this search identified Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the number of PFAS per use category - AS IT WILL BE READ: the number on the market for that use, which the authors say explicitly it is not Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. a link between a PFAS and a use - FROM A PATENT: 42% of the 2400 links, and a patent shows a substance may be used, not that it is Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. a link between a PFAS and a use - FROM AN ANALYTICAL DETECTION: 27%, and a detected substance may be an impurity or a degradation product rather than an ingredient Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. extends → Kissa (2001), the standard monograph on PFAS as surfactants and repellents, which listed 39 use categories mostly from patents and is nearly twenty years old - this study finds five times as many uses Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. critiques → confidential business information as it operates under TSCA - it leaves even regulators without volumes, use categories or substance identities, which limits their ability to assess and prevent harm Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. critiques → the voluntary phase-outs of PFOS- and PFOA-related substances, which other companies were not prevented from succeeding to and which saw very limited enforcement Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. qualifies → its own inventory - not exhaustive, bounded by every register's exclusions, with 4% of functions and 21% of enabling properties undetermined Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. extends → the Montreal Protocol's essential-use concept, argued here in its default-deny form: treat every use as non-essential unless a case is made, with a sunset clause on those accepted Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. more than 200 uses in 64 categories were identified for more than 1400 individual PFAS - five times the uses in the standard previous compilation more than 200 uses in 64 categories were identified for more than 1400 individual PFAS - five times the uses in the standard previous compilation Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the count of substances is a count of what this search found and explicitly not the number on the market, and the authors say so before giving the numbers the count of substances is a count of what this search found and explicitly not the number on the market, and the authors say so before giving the numbers Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Much of the US volume data is confidential, and the resulting uncertainty cannot be estimated from available data. Much of the US volume data is confidential, and the resulting uncertainty cannot be estimated from available data. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Around 42% of the 2400 substance-use links come from patents. Around 42% of the 2400 substance-use links come from patents. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. two categories - ammunition and the nuclear industry - are reported with no substances identified rather than being dropped two categories - ammunition and the nuclear industry - are reported with no substances identified rather than being dropped Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the function of the PFAS could not be determined in 4% of cases and the enabling property in 21% the function of the PFAS could not be determined in 4% of cases and the enabling property in 21% Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. two substances account for 75% of PFAS quantity in the Nordic registers, because they are the product rather than an additive two substances account for 75% of PFAS quantity in the Nordic registers, because they are the product rather than an additive Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. substances that break down into PFOA and PFOS remain in use in medical device coatings, apparel, pharmaceutical equipment and semiconductor manufacture after the voluntary phase-outs substances that break down into PFOA and PFOS remain in use in medical device coatings, apparel, pharmaceutical equipment and semiconductor manufacture after the voluntary phase-outs Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. a single cell phone contains fluoropolymer wiring, PFAS in the circuit boards and a fluoropolymer screen coating - three applications in one product a single cell phone contains fluoropolymer wiring, PFAS in the circuit boards and a fluoropolymer screen coating - three applications in one product Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. defined by Buck et al. (2011) as aliphatic substances with the -CnF2n+1 moiety; widened by the OECD/UNEP group to include -CnF2n-; and widened again here to both-ended chains, side-chain aromatics and cycloaliphatics PFAS Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. confidential business information - the status of more than 80% of the volume entries in the US Chemical Data Reporting database CBI Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. individual PFAS with an identified use - a count under this study's definition, which is wider than Buck 2011 in three ways and narrower in one 1400 value source note: THE DESCRIPTION DRAWS ON THE PAPER BEYOND THIS QUOTE: the comparison with Buck et al. (2011) is in the methods ('In contrast to the definition by Buck et al. (2011)…'). Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. of the volume entries in the US Chemical Data Reporting database are confidential business information 80% Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. metric tons at a single site - the TSCA reporting threshold, below which a substance does not appear at all 11.34 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. of cases where the property enabling the PFAS function could not be determined - against 4% where the function itself could not 21% Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. of all PFAS quantity in the Nordic registers is two substances - PTFE and one refrigerant gas - because they are products rather than additives 75% Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. of the 2400 substance-use links come from patents, against 27% from analytical detection and 31% from reported uses 42% Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. use categories use categories Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. CBI CBI Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution.

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