In 2020, an EU agency called the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published its risk assessment of PFOS, PFOA, and two other common PFAS. A recommendation only, it is up to the EU member states to act on the conclusions. The tolerable weekly intake limit is defined by EFSA as 4.4 ng/kg body weight per week. This complex expression is based on the need to protect the next generation against immunotoxic effects of prenatal and early postnatal exposure to the PFAS. This public health need requires that the exposure of the adult female population be controlled, so that PFAS are not shared through the placenta or via excretion into human milk. By using calculations similar to those used by the U.S. EPA, the tolerable exposure limit can be translated to a joint limit for the four PFAS of 2.2 ng/L. Based on EFSA’s recommendation and this calculation, the Danish Minister of the Environment, Mrs. Lea Wermelin, decided to lower the PFAS limit for drinking water to 2 ng/L. At the same time, the limit for soil contamination was lowered to 0.01 mg/kg dry weight.
