Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (conjugate base perfluorooctanoate) — also known colloquially as C8 — is a perfluorinated carboxylic acid produced and used worldwide as an industrial surfactant in chemical processes and as a material feedstock. It is a product of health concern and subject to regulatory action and voluntary industrial phase-outs. PFOA is considered a surfactant, or fluorosurfactant, due to its chemical structure, which consists of a perfluorinated, n-octyl “tail group” and a carboxylate “head group”. The head group can be described as hydrophilic while the fluorocarbon tail is both hydrophobic and lipophobic. The tail group is inert and does not interact strongly with polar or non-polar chemical moieties; the head group is reactive and interacts strongly with polar groups, s