Erratum:: Emerging per- And polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in human milk from Sweden and China (Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (2020) 22 (2023–2030) DOI: 10.1039/D0EM00077A)

Abstract

On September 17th, 2020, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) established a tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 4.4 ng per kg body weight (bw) per week based on the sum concentrations of per?uorooctanoate (PFOA), per?uorononanoate (PFNA), per- ?uorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), and per?uorooctane sulfonate (PFOS).1 Following review of the EFSA opinion, we identi?ed two areas for correction in our recently published article on occurrence of emerging per- and poly?uoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in human breast milk from China and Sweden.2 Firstly, we calculated estimated weekly intakes (EWIs) for PFAS in breast milk from Sweden and China and compared these values to the TWI in the dra? EFSA Opinion (8 ng per kg bw per week)3 which was higher than the value set in the ?nal EFSA Opinion (4.4 ng per kg bw per week).1 More importantly, however, is that comparing EWIs to either TWI appears to have been inappropriate because, according to EFSA, “the exposure of infants from breastfeeding is already taken into account in the derivation of the TWI, so the risk for the breastfed infant should be evaluated by assessing the long-term exceedance of the TWI by the mothers rather than comparing the exposure of infants with the TWI”.3 While this correction does not impact the conclusions of our study, we acknowledge that it was inappropriate to compare our EWIs to the recent TWIs set by EFSA. The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.