No evidence of an association between size and levels of four per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) in perch (Perca fluviatilis)

H Waldetoft; O M Karlsson; R Awad

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173124

No evidence of an association between size and levels of four per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) in perch (Perca fluviatilis)

Sci Total Environ. 2024 May 9:934:173124. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173124. Online ahead of print.

Authors

H Waldetoft¹, O M Karlsson², R Awad²

Affiliations

¹ IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, P.O Box 210 60, SE-100 31 Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: hannes.waldetoft@ivl.se.
² IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, P.O Box 210 60, SE-100 31 Stockholm, Sweden.

PMID: 38729367
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173124

Abstract

It was assessed how the size of perch (Perca fluviatilis) is related to levels of four per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) in its muscle tissue. These were PFOS, PFNA, PFOA, and PFHxS, for which the sum, denoted as ΣPFAS₄, has a tolerable intake derived by the European Food Safety Authority. The results indicate that, in contrast to, e.g., mercury levels, ΣPFAS₄ levels in perch muscle do not increase with increasing weight of the fish, which implies that consuming larger perch does not increase the risk of exceeding the TWI of ΣPFAS₄, in relation to consuming smaller perch. Therefore, for risk assessment, analyzing samples of smaller perch is sufficient, demanding less effort to catch. The credibility of the results was strengthened by applying the same statistical model to mercury levels in the same samples. As expected, larger fish had generally higher levels than small fish for mercury.

Keywords: Per- and polyfluorinated substances; Perch; Size; Stockholm; Sweden.