New Risk Assessment of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Exposure to Livestock

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Emerging Contaminants".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2025 | Viewed by 582

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Clinical Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Interests: PFAS; toxicology; ADME(T) of drugs; skin permeation (advantageous or otherwise); cellular electrophysiology; topical product evaluation; experimental design; data interpretation

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Environment Protection Authority Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Interests: environmental consulting; human health risk assessment; ecological risk assessment; environmental impact assessment;exposure assessment; environmental microbiology; environmental science

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), a group of over 10,000 synthetic compounds, have become known as the “forever chemicals” due to their barely degradable structures. While the organofluorine motif provides durability to this class of substances, there are numerous structural variations that confer distinctive properties and applications for the numerous families and subfamilies. Presently, there are hundreds of documented uses, leading to their widespread environmental presence in water, air, soil, and animals worldwide. In addition, PFASs have been measured in humans, where some individual congeners are excreted very slowly and therefore bioaccumulate, causing concern and certain health issues. The main sources of human exposure (non-occupational) are drinking water and foods such as fish and livestock products sourced from contaminated environments. Currently, few countries or regions have developed or adopted maximum levels for PFASs in livestock products. Thus, it is necessary to further our understanding of the risks posed and develop management strategies to minimise human exposure to the extent practicable via this route.

The goal of this Special Issue is to advance knowledge and exchange ideas on the risk assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) exposure to livestock. Topics are related to both modelling livestock exposure scenarios or new data on key inputs into such models (excluding dose–response, as this is a topic deserving of its own issue). The proposed topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Environmental and feed production trends that influence livestock exposure;
  • Exposure modelling and assessment for different livestock operation types (intensive and extensive practises) and climate zones;
  • Monitoring studies to validate exposure models for livestock;
  • PFASs toxicokinetics (in common livestock species including ruminants, non-ruminants, and poultry) and modelling methods to estimate livestock body burden;
  • Practical mitigation strategies and cost–benefit considerations to minimise PFASs residues in livestock tissues and improve food quality, including efficacy of binders added to feed;
  • Development of environmental guidelines to assist with screening level risk assessments for livestock farms;
  • Developing acceptable PFASs levels in livestock food products and risk assessments for common livestock products (e.g., dairy, meat, and eggs).

Dr. Lorraine MacKenzie
Dr. Antti Mikkonen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)
  • PFAS risk assessment
  • PFAS livestock exposure models
  • PFAS toxicokinetics
  • PFAS environmental guidelines

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

25 pages, 2737 KiB  
Article
Application of a Dynamic Exposure Population Toxicokinetic Model for Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS) and Extension to Perfluorodecanoic Acid (PFDA) at a North American Beef Cattle Farm with a History of Biosolids Land Application
by Barbara A. Astmann, Antti T. Mikkonen, Thomas L. Simones, Meghan Flanagan, Duncan Pfaehler, Ivan Lenov and Andrew E. Smith
Toxics 2025, 13(7), 541; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13070541 - 27 Jun 2025
Viewed by 249
Abstract
Historical application of wastewater treatment sludge (biosolids) has introduced per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into agricultural systems and led to contamination of crops and livestock. Previous work validated a dynamic exposure and population toxicokinetic (DE_PopTK) modeling approach for estimating perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) [...] Read more.
Historical application of wastewater treatment sludge (biosolids) has introduced per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into agricultural systems and led to contamination of crops and livestock. Previous work validated a dynamic exposure and population toxicokinetic (DE_PopTK) modeling approach for estimating perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) concentrations in cattle tissues at sites primarily dominated by water contamination. This work expands the efforts to validate the DE_PopTK model at a self-contained beef farm in Maine with PFAS exposures from feed grown on site where soil is contaminated from historical biosolids applications. The model is also extended to estimate perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) exposure and tissue levels. Farm-specific data were obtained to consider farm management practices, spatial variation of PFAS in soil, animal growth, and seasonal and annual variability in estimating daily exposures based on water, feed, and soil intake. A dynamic exposure pattern was observed as cattle accumulated PFAS while consuming feed grown on contaminated land and eliminated it while grazing on non-contaminated pastures. Model-estimated PFOS and PFDA levels in serum and muscle were in good agreement with biomonitoring data collected at the farm over a four-year period to reflect periods of accumulation and depuration, with the percentage error ranging from 16% to 73% when comparing modeled and measured data. Our findings demonstrated that understanding farm exposures and collecting site-specific data were integral to model performance. The model was applied to simulate management strategies and complement economic analyses to demonstrate that, with modifications to management practices, it is feasible for the farm to achieve lower PFOS and PFDA levels in beef and maintain economic viability despite elevated PFAS soil levels. Full article
Back to TopTop