چکیده (انگلیسی):

Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) is a fully fluorinated eight-carbon fatty acid analog with exceptional
stability toward degradation that has been used as an industrial surfactant and
has been detected in environmental and biological matrices. Exposures to PFOA in the
workplace and in the environment have continuously stimulated investigations into its
potential human health hazards. In this article, the results of fifteen unpublished genotoxicity
assays conducted with perfluorooctanoate (as either the linear or linear/branched
ammonium salt (APFO) or the linear/branched sodium salt) are reported and include:
seven mutation assays (three in vitro reverse mutation assays with histidine auxotrophic
strains of Salmonella typhimurium, two in vitro reverse mutation assays with the tryptophan
auxotrophic Escherichia coli WP2uvr strain, one in vitro mitotic recombination (gene
conversion) assay with Saccharomyces cerevisiae D4, and an in vitro Chinese hamster ovary
(CHO) HGPRT forward mutation assay); seven studies to assess potential for chromosomal
damage (three in vitro CHO chromosomal aberration studies, an in vitro human whole blood
lymphocyte chromosomal aberration study, and three in vivo mouse micronucleus assays);
and an in vitro C3H 10T1/2 cell transformation assay. Although PFOA has not been demonstrated
to be metabolized, all in vitro assays were conducted both in the presence and in the
absence of a mammalian hepatic microsomal activation system. These assays were originally
described in twelve contract laboratory reports which have been available via the
United States Environmental Protection Agency public docket (Administrative Record 226)
for over a decade; however, the details of these assays have not been published previously
in the open scientific literature. With the exception of limited positive findings at high
and cytotoxic concentrations in some assay trials which reflected the likely consequence
of cytotoxic disruption of normal cellular processes and not a specific genotoxic effect, the
results of the studies presented in this paper and other published results clearly demonstrate
the absence of direct mutagenic or genotoxic risk associated with PFOA. This finding
is consistent with the physical/chemical characteristics of PFOA and is supported by other
published genotoxicity studies.