Documents published by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment(CCME) regarding the Canadian Soil and Groundwater Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health – Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are available for public review and comment until September 7, 2018.
PFOS is present in numerous products such as firefighting foams, insecticides, coatings used for textiles and paper, and cleaning products. It is only found in the environment as a result of its production, use and disposal, or it may result indirectly from the biodegradation, photo-oxidation, photolysis and hydrolysis of precursor perfluorochemicals.
The CCME report explains that “PFOS has been manufactured globally for more than 50 years, but never in Canada. The 3M 21 Company manufactured PFOS and its perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride–based precursors in the 22 United States until 2001, and a voluntary phase-out was completed in 2002.” The long-distance transport of PFOS is assumed to be occurring via weather and ocean currents.
The draft document, Canadian Soil and Groundwater Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health – Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is available on the CCME website. Comments are to be directed to:
Charles Thrift
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment
360 – 123 Main Street
Winnipeg, MB R3C 1A3
Email: [email protected]
