Could Your Sofa or Jacket Be Made from Toxic Material?
autor: Anna Hovořáková
vedoucí práce: Mgr. Hana Boucná
Nowadays, in this modern time, we are constantly surrounded by new materials and
technologies, which help our life to be more comfortable–sports clothes, indoor textiles, fire
fighting foams, photographic industry, … But what about their chemical treatment?
Fluorinated surfactants (PFCs) are compounds, which are very often applied to the
surfaces in numerous industrial and consumer products. PFCs have been classified as a
persistent organic pollutant and they are exceptional because of their special chemical
properties, for example, the ability to the repel water and oil. We are talking about relatively
new and yet not so much monitored compounds. Despite the positive contribution to the
ordinary life, these substances are more or less toxic, thus bringing forth some ecosystems out
of balance. They have the potential to accumulate in the environment and organisms, and
because of that, one of their representativeperfluorooctanesulphonate (PFOS) and its
precursors were added to the list of substances of Stockholm Convention at conference in
Geneva in 2009. But the fact remains that essentially there is currently no effective legislation
of perfluorinated compounds, which would limit the use of these substances. Due to their
massive use after the 50sof the 20th century there has been a significant contamination of the
environment. One of the main sources of human contamination is primarily applications of
these substances to products, which we use in ordinary life (materials for outdoor activity,
upholstery, carpets, packaging materials used in food industry, etc.). It is very difficult to find
chemical additives of PFCs to these materials from their manufacturers, so one of the
possibilities is their analytical determination.
Perfluorinated compounds are a current topic and nowadays there are numbers of
studies, which are interested in the effects of these compounds on human and also their
occurrence in nature and among us. We can find a lot of researches on diseases and
complications caused by PFCs, because upon the entering into the body they move primarily
into the liver and body fluids. Then, they bind to the protein component of tissue, so, for
example, there is a possibility of a bladder cancer. But very often the researches are just
theoretical and we cannotfully rely on them.
Very oftena method called HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) - it is
flexible and useful for the substances, for which it is very difficult to be detected by another
method. The entire analysis process involves extracting a sample from a particular material
and then the extract is analysed by HPLC. By this methodcomplex mixtures of the individual
substances are separated and then they are recognized by a suitable detector and all
information is processed by computer. In this way the quantity of perfuorinated substances in
each material is established and the results can be compared.
In Brno there exists only one centre that is authorized to use the method HPLC. The
centre is called Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment and it is located at
the Masaryk University. This centre, in cooperation with other similar centres in Europe, is
trying to gather a sufficient number of results that would confirm the high occurrence of PFCs
among us. Big problem is that through our home, these substances can impair many
ecosystems, so the European Union is going to use these results for new and stricter
legislation for application of perfluorinated compounds.
One of the researches conducted last year worked with 52 samples that were selected
from the groups of outdoor clothes, luxury upholstery, curtains, packaging materials from
fast-food restaurant, etc. The materials were cut and weighted from a number of 3, 6 g to 6, 4
g. First, there is a need to analysefour so-called blind samples for detection of background
contamination and then the 52 materials in small glass vials.The
results were surprising. The sums of concentration ranged from
absence of PFCs to hundreds of µg/kg. The most of perfluorinated
compound was detected in group of luxury upholstery and in the
greatest amount in the sample called as FUOCO, where
mostoccurred perfluoralcylcarboxylic acids with important
representative PFOA (perfluooroctane acid)that the human body
well receives largely both orally and by breathing, and also but less
by our skin. It is classified as a weak carcinogen, a half-life of
elimination from the
body is about 1-3.5 years
and also there is no
metabolism of these
substances. We have
Ongoing extraction
evidence that this acid
together with the above mentioned PFOS
(perfluorooctanesulfonane) is able to pass through
the placenta. Also in upholstery called TRIBE a
large amountsof PFCsand even PFOA were found.
In outdoor clothes there were recognized mainly
Extracts of selected materials in vials
less known perfluoralcylcarboxylic acids but even
then is their amount considerable.
It is necessary to be aware of the fact that there is a greater threat of pollution of nature
by these substances that are not possible to degrade in nature, and there is a need to develop
the research on physical and chemical properties of PFCs. When you think about the
possibilities of environmental contamination, it may not be just some release from their
producing factories, bad treatment with solid waste or release of wastewater treatment plants.
Pollution may also happen by using commercial products.
So how can we know that when we wash a soft-shell jacket it does not cause flow of a
certain quantity of PFCs into a nature which then is not able to degrade in the environment?
Already the fact that our skin can partially absorb PFOA is disturbing. So when we use
waterproof clothes do we get into our body weak carcinogen substance? Or does a family with
modern sofa risk the children’s health, because thechild can lick the surface? Moreover, we
know that perfluorinated compounds are able of long-range transport so they are found, for
example, in the Arctic regions. It is important to pay more attention to these mostly publicly
unknown substances and make more researches that would clarify these issues. But first, there
must be restriction on the use as it was done with PFOS a few years ago, because when it is
proved that we are talking about something that is able to get into the human body and there is
a suspicion that it is toxic…we must realize that in such quantity PFCs have nothing to do on
a market.
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