| Exposure of Perfluorinated Chemicals through Lactation: Levels of Matched Human Milk and Serum and a Temporal Trend, 1996–2004, in Sweden Anna Kärrman,1 Ingrid Ericson,1 Bert van Bavel,1 Per Ola Darnerud,2 Marie Aune,2 Anders Glynn,2 Sanna Lignell,2 and Gunilla Lindström1 1Man–Technology–Environment (MTM) Research Centre, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden; 2National Food Administration, Uppsala, Sweden Abstract
Background: Only limited data exist on lactation as an exposure source of persistent perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) for children. Objectives: We studied occurrence and levels of PFCs in human milk in relation to maternal serum together with the temporal trend in milk levels between 1996 and 2004 in Sweden. Matched, individual human milk and serum samples from 12 primiparous women in Sweden were analyzed together with composite milk samples (25–90 women/year) from 1996 to 2004. Results: Eight PFCs were detected in the serum samples, and five of them were also above the detection limits in the milk samples. Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) were detected in all milk samples at mean concentrations of 0.201 ng/mL and 0.085 ng/mL, respectively. Perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA) , perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) , and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) were detected less frequently. Discussion: The total PFC concentration in maternal serum was 32 ng/mL, and the corresponding milk concentration was 0.34 ng/mL. The PFOS milk level was on average 1% of the corresponding serum level. There was a strong association between increasing serum concentration and increasing milk concentration for PFOS (r2 = 0.7) and PFHxS (r2 = 0.8) . PFOS and PFHxS levels in composite milk samples were relatively unchanged between 1996 and 2004, with a total variation of 20 and 32% coefficient of variation, respectively. Conclusion: The calculated total amount of PFCs transferred by lactation to a breast-fed infant in this study was approximately 200 ng/day. Lactation is a considerable source of exposure for infants, and reference concentrations for hazard assessments are needed. Key words: human exposure, LC-MS, PFC, PFOA, PFOS. Environ Health Perspect 115:226–230 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.9491 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 28 November 2006]
Address correspondence to A. Kärrman, Man–Technology–Environment (MTM) Research Centre, Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden. Telephone: 46-19-30-14-01. Fax: 46-19-30-35-66. E-mail: anna.karrman@nat.oru.se K. Holmström and M. McLachlan (Stockholm University) are kindly acknowledged for the assistance with the triple quadrupole mass spectrometry analysis. The study was financially supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (HÄMI) . The Cancer and Allergy foundation is also acknowledged for their support. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 7 July 2006 ; accepted 27 November 2006.
Correction In the manuscript originally published online, in Table 2, some of the values for the blank concentrations of serum and milk were incorrect. Figure 1B describes PFOA, not PFHxS. These errors have been corrected here.
The full version of this article is available for free in HTML or PDF formats. | 
