What is "perfluorooctanoic acid"

n. (context chemistry English) A synthetic, stable perfluorinated carboxylic acid and fluorosurfactant with industrial applications, a toxicant and carcinogen in animals, persistent in the environment and associated with infertility.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) ( conjugate base perfluorooctanoate), also known as C8, is a synthetic perfluorinated carboxylic acid and fluorosurfactant. One industrial application is as a surfactant in the emulsion polymerization of fluoropolymers. It has been used in the manufacture of such prominent consumer goods as polytetrafluoroethylene (commercially known as Teflon). PFOA has been manufactured since the 1940s in industrial quantities. It is also formed by the degradation of precursors such as some fluorotelomers.

PFOA persists indefinitely in the environment. It is a toxicant and carcinogen in animals. PFOA has been detected in the blood of more than 98% of the general US population in the low and sub- parts per billion range, and levels are higher in chemical plant employees and surrounding subpopulations. How general populations are exposed to PFOA is not completely understood. PFOA has been detected in industrial waste, stain resistant carpets, carpet cleaning liquids, house dust, microwave popcorn bags, water, food, some cookware and PTFE such as Teflon.

As a result of a class-action lawsuit and community settlement with DuPont, three epidemiologists conducted studies on the population surrounding a chemical plant that was exposed to PFOA at levels greater than in the general population. The studies concluded that there was probably an association between PFOA exposure and six health outcomes: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), and pregnancy-induced hypertension.

The primary manufacturer of PFOs – 3M (known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company from 1902 to 2002) – began a production phase-out in 2002 in response to concerns by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA also known as EPA) and eight other companies agreed to gradually phase them out by 2015.

By 2014 the USEPA had listed PFOA – free acid and PFOS -potassium salt – emergent contaminants.