Preliminary evidence of a decline in perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) concentrations in American Red Cross blood donors

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine whether perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS,C8F17SO3-) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA,C7F15CO2-) concentrations in American Red Cross blood donors from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota have declined after the 2000–2002 phase-out of perfluorooctanesulfonyl-fluoride (POSF, C8F17SO2F)-based materials by the primary global manufacturer, 3M Company. Forty donor plasma samples, categorized by age and sex, were collected in 2005, and PFOS and PFOA concentrations were compared to 100 (non-paired) donor serum samples collected in 2000 from the same general population that were analyzed at the time using ion-pair extraction methods with tetrahydroperfluorooctanesulfonate as an internal standard. Eleven of the 100 samples originally collected were reanalyzed with present study methods that involved 13C- labeled PFOA spiked into the donor samples, original samples, control human plasma, and the calibration curve prior to extraction, and was used as a surrogate to monitor extraction efficiency. Quantification was performed by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry methods. Among the 100 serum samples analyzed for PFOS, the geometric mean was 33.1 ng ml−1 (95% CI 29.8–36.7) in 2000 compared to 15.1 ng ml−1 (95% CI 13.3–17.1) in 2005 (p < 0.0001) for the 40 donor plasma samples. The geometric mean concentration for PFOA was 4.5 ng ml−1 (95% CI 4.1–5.0) in 2000 compared to 2.2 ng ml−1 (95% CI 1.9–2.6) in 2005 (p < 0.0001). The decrease was consistent across donors’ age and sex. To confirm these preliminary findings, additional sub-sets of year 2000 samples will be analyzed, and a much larger biomonitoring study of other locations is planned.