Environmental Risks of Medium-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs): A Review

Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2018 papers

Abstract

Chlorinated paraffins are industrial chemicals that can be subdivided into short-chain (SCCP), medium-chain (MCCP), and long-chain (LCCP) chlorinated paraffins. The global production volumes of MCCPs are nowadays suspected to be much higher than those of S- and LCCPs, and the few available studies on the environmental occurrence of chlorinated paraffins report often higher MCCP concentrations than S- or LCCP concentrations in the environment. The present review focuses, therefore, on MCCPs specifically and provides a literature overview and a data analysis of the production volumes, PBT properties (persistence, bioaccumulation potential, and toxicity), and the worldwide measured concentrations of MCCP in environmental samples, biota, and humans. Furthermore, we include our own measurements of technical CP formulations from China, the major global producing country, to estimate the global production amounts of MCCPs. The key findings from this review are that (1) MCCPs are toxic to the aquatic environment, and the available data suggest that they are also persistent; (2) available time trends for MCCPs in soil, biota, and most of the sediment cores show increasing time trends over the last years to decades; and (3) MCCP concentrations in sediment close to local sources exceed toxicity thresholds (i.e., the PNEC). Our study shows that overall, MCCPs are of growing concern, and regulatory actions should be considered seriously.

Related Papers

• → Short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins in soil from an urban area of northern China: Levels, distribution, and homolog patterns(2021)20 cited
• → Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in marine organisms and sediments from Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica(2016)70 cited
• → Prediction of the bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in aquatic food webs(2002)60 cited
• → Bioaccumulation of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in free-range hens: Congener fingerprints and biotransfer factors(2022)11 cited
• → Bioaccumulation of Chlorinated Paraffins — A Review(1986)2 cited