Perfluorooctanoate and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate Concentrations in Surface Water in Japan

Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are synthetic surfactants used in Japan. An epidemiological study of workers exposed to PFOA revealed a significant increase in prostate cancer mortality. A cross-sectional study of PFOA-exposed workers showed that PFOA perturbs sex hormone homeostasis. We analyzed their concentrations in surface water samples collected from all over Japan by LC/MS with a solid phase extraction method. The lowest limits of detection (LOD) (ng/L) were 0.06 for PFOA and 0.04 for PFOS. The lowest limits of quantification (LOQ) (ng/L) were 0.1 for both analytes. The levels [geometric mean (GM); geometric standard deviation (GS)] (ng/L) of PFOA and PFOS in the surface waters were GM (GS): 0.97(3.06) and 1.19(2.44) for Hokkaido-Tohoku (n=16); 2.84(3.56) and 3.69(3.93) for Kanto (n=14); 2.50(2.23) and 1.07(2.36) for Chubu (n=17); 21.5(2.28) and 5.73(3.61) for Kinki (n=8); 1.51(2.28) and 1.00(3.42) for Chugoku (n=9); 1.93(2.40) and 0. 89(3.09) for Kyushu-Shikoku (n=15). The GM of PFOA in Kinki was significantly higher than in other areas (ANOVA p