Occurrence of perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) in personal care products and compounding agents

• Perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) were in personal care products (PCPs).
• The samples list polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs) in their ingredients.
• The concentrations of total PFCAs range from not detected to 19 μg g−1 in PCPs.
• Compounding agents contain high concentrations of PFCAs (35 μg g−1).
• PFCAs are detected in PCPs and compounding agents that use PAPs.

Perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), are persistent organic pollutants that pose human health risks. However, sources of contamination and exposure pathways of PFCAs have not been explored. In this study, PFCA concentrations were quantified in personal care products. Among 24 samples that listed fluorinated compounds, such as polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs), in their international nomenclature of cosmetic ingredients (INCI) labels, 21contained PFCAs (13 of 15 cosmetic samples, and 8 of 9 sunscreen samples). The concentrations of total PFCAs ranged from not detected to 5.9 μg g−1 for cosmetics and from not detected to 19 μg g−1 for sunscreens. We also investigated components of PFCAs in cosmetics and sunscreens. Commercially available compounding agents, mica and talc, which were treated with PAPs were analyzed and high concentrations of PFCAs were detected (total PFCAs 2.5 μg g−1 for talc treated with PAPs, 35.0 μg g−1 for mica treated with PAPs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on contamination of end consumer products containing PAPs with high concentrations of PFCAs.