Estimated Mass Balances of Perfluorinated Chemicals in Tokyo Bay

Introduction Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) have been used widely as surfactants, lubricants, paper and textile coatings, polishes, food packaging, and fire-retarding foams over the past fifty years. Some of these chemicals, such as perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), are persistent in the environment and have been found in wild animal samples around the world 1, . Due to the fact that PFCs have quite different chemical properties compared with conventional POPs, their environmental behavior and exposure pathway to human and wildlife need to be clarified. In this study, PFOS and PFOA were monitored in the seawater and sediment from Tokyo Bay and in water of six major rivers that run into the bay. Then, their mass balances and behaviors in the bay were investigated.