Environmental fate behavior and risk implications of legacy and emerging PFAS across multiple media: a spatiotemporal perspective from Africa and beyond

Summary

This review examines the environmental distribution, persistence, mobility, transformation, and degradation pathways of both legacy and emerging PFAS across multiple environmental media from a spatiotemporal perspective with a focus on Africa. PFAS and microplastics share critical environmental fate characteristics — persistence, bioaccumulation, and long-range transport — and co-contaminate many of the same water bodies and food sources, making their combined risk a growing research priority.