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Household dust could rival food packaging as a potential major route for human exposure to C8 and related toxic chemicals, two federal government scientists conclude in a new study.
C8 and other perfluorinated compounds were found in 95 percent of the dust samples in homes in Ohio and North Carolina, according to the study by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency experts.
"This could indeed be a significant source of exposure," said Andrew Lindstrom, an environmental scientist with the EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Lindstrom and Mark Strynar, an EPA physical scientist, tested dust taken from vacuum cleaner bags from 100 homes and 10 day-care centers for C8 and other perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs.
They found median concentrations of C8 of 142 parts per billion and median concentrations of the related chemical PFOS of 201 parts per billion.
"These results indicate that perfluorinated compounds are present in house dust at levels that may represent an important pathway for human exposure," they reported this week in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology.
In West Virginia, C8 is a major issue because the water supplies for thousands of Parkersburg-area residents have been contaminated with the toxic chemical.
C8 is another name for ammonium perfluorooctanoate, or PFOA. DuPont Co. has used the chemical since the 1950s at its Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg. C8 is a processing agent used to make Teflon and other nonstick products, oil-resistant paper packaging and stain-resistant textiles.
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