Ecological risk assessment for perfluorooctanoic acid in soil using a species sensitivity approach

By Jin Il Kwak, Tae-Yang Lee, Hyomin Seo, Dokyung Kim, Dasom Kim, Rongxue Cui, and Youn-Joo An
Jour. Haz. Mat.
September 17, 2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121150

Abstract

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is one of the persistent organic pollutants that has been listed in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention and has attracted attention owing to its endocrine-disrupting properties. However, there is currently little information available regarding the soil ecotoxicity of PFOA and the associated ecological risks. Accordingly, in this study, we sought to assess the soil ecological risk of PFOA based on a probabilistic approach using data obtained from multispecies bioassays and soil toxicity assessments, from which we generated soil species sensitivity distributions and estimated soil protective concentrations for PFOA. Using the latter distributions, we also undertook a probabilistic ecological risk assessment. On the basis of acute and chronic toxicity estimates obtained from bioassays involving eight soil-associated organisms from six diverse taxonomic groups, we could deduce that PFOA poses a negligible risk to soil ecosystems. However, we also found that this chemical may be more toxic than some of the established endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol A, nonylphenol, and methylparaben, thereby indicating that further in-depth studies would be necessary to obtain a better understanding of the toxic potential of this chemical in the soil environment.

 

Highlights

• We conducted the first cumulative ecological risk assessment for PFOA in soil.

• Soil species sensitivity distributions were generated based on multispecies assays.

• Acute and chronic soil protective concentrations of PFOA were estimated.

• PFOA may be more toxic than bisphenol A, nonylphenol, and methylparaben.

• Further studies are needed to understand the toxic potential of PFOA in soil.

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