ICCVAM PFAS Workgroup
PFAS are organofluorine chemicals manufactured and used for decades in products and applications such as firefighting foams, food packaging, and stain- and water-resistant fabrics and carpeting. PFAS have very specific properties that make them resistant to oil, water, and high temperatures. They are highly persistent and bioaccumulate in the environment, biota, and humans. While there is great national and international pressure to understand PFAS hazard, doing so effectively and efficiently presents many challenges. There is no consensus definition of PFAS, and their large variety of chemical structures, physiochemical characteristics, and toxicological properties makes PFAS hazard prediction extremely challenging.
ICCVAM established a workgroup in 2023 to provide expertise in identifying and evaluating NAMs to predict PFAS toxicity. The group’s charges include:
- Evaluate current PFAS definitions and groupings.
- Assess the utility of new approach methodologies (NAMs) currently being used by national and international regulatory agencies for testing and risk assessment of specific PFAS based on case examples of successful application of certain NAMs.
- Identify research challenges and data gaps for the use of specific NAMs for testing and risk assessment of different PFAS.
- Identify NAMs that have not been used for PFAS and explore opportunities for expanding their application for their testing and risk assessment.
The planned activities of the group were discussed at the September 2023 SACATM meeting. The workgroup is currently drafting a white paper that will propose definitions and groupings of PFAS, outline current applications of NAMs for PFAS hazard identification, and identify challenges and data gaps that need to be addressed for further applications of NAMs. It will then convene a workshop to address issues identified in the white paper, with findings from the workshop presented in a published manuscript.