Growing concerns around perfluorinated

All the excitement in the field of perfluorides. Much stricter standards are being prepared in Europe and the United States to better regulate these very useful chemical compounds, which persist for a very long time in the environment and the human body. Standards so strict… that even the rain in Antarctica would exceed them.

Mathieu Perreault
The Press

On the edge of testing

In Europe and the United States, new standards on perfluorines in the environment are being considered. As they are 15,000 times lower than current standards, Ian Cousins ​​of Stockholm University wanted to see if rainwater would pass the test. “For one of the two major classes of perfluorides, in most samples taken around the world, the amount in rainwater exceeds the standards currently being considered,” says Cousins, who is the lead author of the report. analysis published at the end of July in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

“In fact, we will even have to develop new tests, because current commercial tests will not be able to detect such low perfluorinated concentrations. Only a few research laboratories are capable of this. Mr. Cousins ​​describes the phenomenon as “the new planetary frontier of pollution”. Does this mean that the standards are too strict? “No, these are very persistent and worrying pollutants, but all of that will have to be taken into account in the economic analysis of the application of these standards. There will certainly be a debate on the matter. »

Immune system

According to Cousins, the new standards stem from work carried out over the past decade in the Faroe Islands by a researcher working at the University of Southern Denmark and Harvard, Philippe Grandjean. In 2017, in the Journal of Immunotoxicology, Mr. Grandjean calculated that babies in the Faroe Islands most exposed to perfluorides were 20% less protected by childhood vaccines. He also published results linking these perfluorides to an increased risk of severe COVID-19, but Mr. Cousins ​​has reservations about this study.

Previously, the strongest evidence of the harmful effect of perfluorines was linked to a plant of chemical giant DuPont (now owned by Chemours) in Parkersburg, West Virginia. This factory is the origin of the film Dark Waters, released in 2019. In Parkersburg, blood levels 10,000 higher than normal led to a 2-fold increased risk of kidney cancer (comparable to the increase in kidney cancer risk associated with obesity). Inconclusive data on birth defects have also been linked to the plant.

Facilitate medical tests

The debate around future perfluorinated standards does not preclude dealing with people whose levels exceed current standards. A specialist from the University of Montreal, Jean-Marc Verner, collaborated on a report by the United States Academies of Sciences on the issue, which led him to testify behind closed doors in the United States Congress at the end of July. .

“Often, people who live near contaminated sites have difficulty convincing their doctor to test them for the presence of perfluorinated compounds in their bodies. We recommend that this be encouraged, despite the uncertainty surrounding the health effects of perfluorides,” advises Jean-Marc Verner. The number of contaminated sites — factories, military bases and airports where perfluorines are used in fire-fighting foam — borders on 3,000 in the United States.

Few data in Quebec

Are there contaminated areas in Quebec? “To my knowledge, there have been no perfluorinated plants in Canada,” says Mr. Verner. But there have been no analyzes of airports or military bases. It appears that there were fire drills involving perfluorides at the Mirabel airport. This is something I want to tackle. »

And in Dorval? “Generally, firefighters from different airports congregate at one location for drills, so not every airport has one. Today, such drills are usually done in controlled locations where all perfluorinated foams (useful for hard-to-extinguish fires) are collected.

Eliminate with UV

At the same time, researchers are working on ways to accelerate the elimination of perfluorides. At Rice University in Houston, Michael Wong has developed a molecule that accelerates the degradation of perfluorines by ultraviolet light. “We believe our catalyst will be more affordable than any method currently available,” says Wong, who published his results in mid-July in the Chemical Engineering Journal.

“If there is real pressure to eliminate perfluorides, perfluorinated plants should be able to integrate our process. Perhaps we will even have a cost compatible with the decontamination of sites such as military bases. The Texas chemical engineer has been working on this catalyst for ten years. He started testing it in the lab five years ago. The catalyst in question is boron nitride, commonly used in the cosmetics industry.