Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) in household dust in Central Europe and North America Pavlína Karásková a , Marta Venier b, ⁎, Lisa Melymuk a, ⁎⁎, Jitka Bečanová a , Šimon Vojta a , Roman Prokeš a , Miriam L. Diamond c , Jana Klánová a a Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/3, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic b School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 702 N. Walnut Grove Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA c Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, 22 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada abstract article info Article history: Received 22 January 2016 Received in revised form 27 May 2016 Accepted 27 May 2016 Available online xxxx Concentrations of 20 perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) were measured in dust samples from 41 homes in Canada, the Czech Republic, and United States in the spring-summer of 2013. The most frequently detected com- pounds were perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) had the highest concentrations of PFASs in all countries. PFOS median concentrations for the three countries were between 9.1 and 14.1 ng/g, and PFOA medians ranged between 8.2 and 9.3 ng/g. In general, con- centrations in North America were higher than in the Czech Republic, which is consistent with usage patterns. No differences were found for perfluorooctane sulfonamides/sulfonamidoethanols (FOSA/Es) levels due to the low number of detections. Homologue profiles suggest that the shift from longer to shorter chain PFASs is more ad- vanced in North America than in Europe. Significant relationships were found among individual homologues and between PFAS concentrations in dust and type of floor, number of people living in the house, and building age. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Perfluorinated compounds PFASs House dust Indoor environment 1. Introduction Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) are industrial chemicals characterized by fluorinated carbon chains with different functional groups. PFASs can be subdivided into several categories, [e.g. perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSAs), perfluoroalkane sulfonamides (FOSAs), and perfluoroalkane sulfonamidoethanols (FOSEs)]. PFASs have been used for more than 60 years in a variety of applications: surfactants, lubricants, paper and textile coatings, polishes, food packaging, and fire-fighting foams. They are added to consumer products to make them resistant to water, oil, stains, and even fire (Kissa, 2001). PFAS degrade in the environment; for example, volatile sulfonamides such as N-methyl perfluorooctane sulfonamidoethanol (N-MeFOSE) and N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamidoethanol (N-EtFOSE), which are found in surface protection products, are precursors of PFOS, a compound most commonly detected in environmental matrices (Buck et al., 2011; Lehmler, 2005; Renner, 2004). Although there are only a few companies that manufacture PFASs (e.g. Arkema, Asahi, Atofina, Ciba, Clariant, Daikin, DuPont, 3M and Solvay Solexis) (Environment Canada, 2012), it has been estimated that more than 100,000 metric tons were produced between 1970 and 2002 (Paul et al., 2009), and because of their stability and transport po- tential they have become ubiquitous environment contaminants (Lau et al., 2007). Wang et al. (2014) estimated environmental emissions of 2610–21,400 metric tons of C 4 –C 14 PFCAs between 1951 and 2015. PFASs have been detected globally in the abiotic environment (Gomez et al., 2011; Langer et al., 2010; Shoeib et al., 2010; Sun et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2011; Yang et al., 2011), in biota (Giesy and Kannan, 2001; Kannan et al., 2002; Kannan et al., 2001a; Kannan et al., 2001b), in humans (De Silva and Mabury, 2006; Kärrman et al., 2006a; Kärrman et al., 2006b; Lau et al., 2007; Olsen et al., 2003) and in the indoor environment as a result of consumer products (e.g. food packaging, cleaning agents, textiles) containing PFASs (Gewurtz et al., 2009; Herzke et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2014; U.S.EPA, 2009; Liu et al., 2014 #25). Toxicological data are mostly available for PFOA and PFOS, with research continuing to find adverse effects. In general, toxic effects and environmental fate mainly depend on the fluorinated chain length and the type of functional group (Lau et al., 2007). For example, C8 PFASs (PFOS and PFOA) accumulate primarily in blood serum, kidneys and liver, and no metabolism is expected (Calafat et al., 2006; U.S.EPA, 2006b). Their half-life in humans ranges between 2 and 9 years (Kärrman et al., 2006b; Olsen et al., 2007; Wong et al., 2014). Adverse effects on sperm quality (Joensen et al., 2009), reduced body weight Environment International 94 (2016) 315–324 ⁎ Correspondence to: M. Venier, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 702 N. Walnut Grove Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. ⁎⁎ Correspondence to: L. Melymuk, Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/3, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic. E-mail addresses: mvenier@indiana.edu (M. Venier), melymuk@recetox.muni.cz (L. Melymuk). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.05.031 0160-4120/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environment International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envint