Nonylphenols

Nonylphenols (NPs) are organic compounds that belong to a larger group of alkylphenols, and they are suspected endocrine disruptors. Alkylphenols, including nonylphenol, are used to make alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs), chemical compounds that are mainly used as synthetic surfactants used in detergents and cleaning products. The European Union and Canada have banned the use of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) in detergents.

Nonylphenols are produced in large quantities in the United States and are often found as breakdown products from surfactants and detergents. They appear as white crystals and are often found in waste water streams. Nonylphenols do not degrade or dissolve in water. Due to the harmful effects of the degradation products of nonylphenol ethoxylates in the environment, the use and production of such compounds have been banned in EU countries and strictly monitored in many other countries such as Canada and Japan. Although it has been shown that the concentration of nonylphenol in the environment is decreasing, it is still found at concentrations of 4.1 μg/l in river waters and 1 mg/kg in sediments

Uses
Nonylphenols have been used as emulsifiers and modifiers in paints, pesticides, textiles, and some personal care products. They have also been used as plasticizers and antioxidants in plastics and resins. In the 1990s, over 500,000 tons of alkylphenol ethoxylates were produced annually worldwide.

Nonylphenol ethoxylates are more commonly used than octylphenol ethoxylates. The alkylphenol ethoxylates enter the environment through human use of products containing them, through sewage, and through manufacturing waste streams.

Toxicity
Nonylphenol is a toxic xenobiotic compound classified as an endocrine disrupter capable of interfering with the hormonal system of numerous organisms. The impacts of nonylphenol in the environment include feminization of aquatic organisms, decrease in male fertility and the survival of juveniles at concentrations as low as 8.2 μg/l. The Environmental Protection Agency has set two types of standards: the first which is considered acute criteria is one-hour average concentration of nonylphenol does not exceed 28 μg/L more than once every three years on the average.
 * Freshwater Aquatic Life

For saltwater ecosystems, the standard is considered to be chronic criteria and is set to four-day average concentration of nonylphenol that does not exceed 6.6 μg/l more than once every three years on the average.
 * Saltwater Aquatic Life

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Biosolids
 * Sewage sludge
 * Food Rights Network
 * Alkylphenols
 * Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs)
 * Octylphenol

External resources

 * US EPA, Nonylphenol
 * PAN Pesticide Database, Nonylphenol

External articles

 * A Safer Alternative Exists to This Toxic Cleaning Agent, Sierra Club, November 2005.
 * Jun Shan, Ting Wang, Chengliang Li, Erwin Klumpp and Rong Ji, Bioaccumulation and Bound-Residue Formation of a Branched 4-Nonylphenol Isomer in the Geophagous Earthworm Metaphire guillelmi in a Rice Paddy Soil, Environmental Science & Technology, 2010.
 * Klaus Guenther, Volkmar Heinke, Bjoern Thiele, Einhard Kleist, Hartmut Prast, and Torsten Raecker, Endocrine Disrupting Nonylphenols Are Ubiquitous in Food, Environmental Science & Technology, March 19, 2002.
 * Alan M. Vajda, Larry B. Barber, James L. Gray, Elena M. Lopez, John D. Woodling and David O. Norris, Reproductive Disruption in Fish Downstream from an Estrogenic Wastewater Effluent, Environmental Science & Technology, 2008.
 * alkylphenols and alkylphenol ethoxylates, Chemical Encyclopedia.
 * Ruthann A Rudel, David E Camann, John D Spengler, Leo R Korn, and Julia G Brody, Phthalates, Alkylphenols, Pesticides, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers, and other Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds in Indoor Air and Dust, Environmental Science & Technology, September 13, 2003, Posted on Mindfully.org.
 * Alkylphenolic Compounds - Introduction
 * Alkylphenolic Compounds
 * Fauser P, Vikelsøe J, Sørensen PB, and Carlsen L., Phthalates, nonylphenols and LAS in an alternately operated wastewater treatment plant--fate modelling based on measured concentrations in wastewater and sludge, Water Research, March 2003.
 * Nonylphenols to be Banned in Germany, European Public Health Alliance, 2005.
 * Nonylphenols are Ubiquitous Contaminants of Food, Our Stolen Future.