RAPPORT

Summary
Highly fluorinated substances (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, PFAS) are used in
many different articles and chemical products due to their attractive properties. They are
repellent to water, grease, and dirt, temperature resistant and film-forming. However, other
less desirable properties are their extreme persistence in the environment, and that several of
them accumulate in living organisms and can be toxic.
The knowledge of the presence and use of highly fluorinated substances is limited and this
report is a survey of how these substances are used. The report will be used in future work to
prevent additional health and environmental problems with PFAS.
The survey was conducted at the Swedish Chemicals Agency in (the spring) 2015. It is based
on information from databases available to the agency (e.g. the Swedish products register and
EU databases). Searches were also made in scientific publications and reports as well as lists
of industrial chemicals from various countries (mainly from North America and Asia). In
addition, information has been obtained from the industry and searches have been made in
patent databases. Although all known uses of PFAS are considered in the report, the focus is
on those assessed to be most relevant for Sweden. Alternatives to PFAS, alternative materials
and methods are also included in the survey.
The highly fluorinated substances have been compiled and grouped and, when possible,
related to different uses.
The results of this survey demonstrate that there are probably more than 3,000 commercial
highly fluorinated substances in circulation on the global market. The largest group are
polymers. Many of the substances have technical qualities with more or less unspecified
formulations. We see that the industry has replaced longer carbon chain lengths with shorter
ones, mainly six perfluorinated carbons. Information from various patents suggests a strong
increase of proposed uses of existing substances in new technical areas. Further, it indicates
that the development of new highly fluorinated substances is more moderate.
The survey shows that these substances already today are widely used, from more well-known
areas, such as fire-fighting foam, textiles and food packaging to less investigated areas, such
as cosmetics, dental restorative materials and dirt-repellent coating for smartphones.
Identified alternatives to PFAS are fluorine-free substances, different materials and alternative
techniques. Alternatives could be identified primarily for textiles and fire-fighting foam.
Generally, it has been difficult to find alternatives that will match the desired properties of the
highly fluorinated substances. This lack of alternatives demonstrates that there is a need for
technical development.
Due to significant lack of available information this survey cannot give a complete picture.
For example, information on quantities could only be obtained for a few substances.
Furthermore, our sources could only give information of uses for about half of the identified
substances. This is not surprising, since many of the highly fluorinated substances are
entering the EU and Sweden through imports of articles, and for those there are virtually no
control.
Another reason for the lack of information is that many highly fluorinated substances are very
effective and therefore used in low concentrations to achieve the desired effect. Within
REACH there are register requirements for the manufacturers or importers of substances from
100 tonne/year. At low volumes, which can be the case for most PFAS, information
requirements are very low. For quantities below 100 tonne/year (1 tonne/year from June
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