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

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,...