Perspectives on the Inclusion of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate into the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Abstract

Reflections on the inclusion of perfluorooctane sulfonate into the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been of considerable public health and environmental concern for several decades.These are organic substances that persist in the environment, can undergo long distance transportation, are able to bioaccumulate, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to animals and human health.As a measure to control and mitigate the threats of POPs, an international treaty was signed in 2001 and came into force on May 2004 for its signatories (1).The treaty, called the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (SC), initially listed twelve chemicals, the so-called "Dirty Dozen" for final elimination (Annex A), or restricted use (Annex B), and/or reduced releases of unintentional production (Annex C).The SC also included a section stating that additional chemicals can be nominated by its member parties, after which the candidate chemical would undergo several screening and evaluation rounds before it could be voted for inclusion into the Convention (Figure 1).The (possible) inclusion of one of these suspected POPs, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), is currently a controversial issue and we provide some of our viewpoints below, mainly concerning the current production pattern, adverse health effects, and economical issues.Review documents were mainly cited due to limitations on article length, and interested readers are advised to consult relevant articles cited within these reviews.