September 19, 2002

Alkylphenols Bulletin:
NEW STUDY ON SKIN ABSORPTION REAFFIRMS SAFETY OF NP, NPE

The Alkylphenols Bulletin periodically notifies manufacturers and users of alkylphenols and their derivatives of national and international developments of interest. For further information, please contact the APE Research Council at the address below.

A new study confirms that even prolonged skin contact with nonylphenol (NP) or nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) solutions causes little absorption and even less penetration of these compounds through the skin, affirming the safe use in consumer and industrial products.¹ NP is used in the manufacture of NPEs, which are highly effective cleaning agents used in industrial processes and in the manufacture of consumer products.

The soon to be published study (N.A. Monterio-Riviere et al.) used a new test system for skin absorption - the isolated perfused porcine skin flap model - which has been shown to more accurately predict skin absorption than previously used test systems. The new test demonstrates that 8-hour skin contact with NP or NPE solutions (water and polyethylene glycol based) causes less than 0.75% of the applied NP or NPEs to absorb into the skin and only 0.1% to penetrate through the skin. These results indicate that the overall potential absorption of NP and NPEs in exposed humans is considerably lower than previous estimates.

Based on the results of the Monterio-Riviere et al. study, a large margin of safety exists between estimates of human exposure and the lowest observed effect level from animal studies. This margin of safety (margin of exposure) indicates that skin contact with consumer products containing NPEs and trace amounts of NP poses virtually no risk to human health.

Additional information is available on the APERC website, www.aperc.org.

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1 N.A. Monteiro-Riviere et al., "In vitro percutaneous absorption of nonylphenol (NP) and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE-4 and NPE-9) in isolated perfused skin," Journal of Toxicology - Cutaneous and Ocular Toxicology, in press.

 

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