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2009

APERC Bulletin: EPA Solicits Comments on Testing Needs for Nonylphenol and Nonylphenol Ethoxylates
June 17, 2009

On June 17, 2009, US EPA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) soliciting public comment on whether certain types of studies are necessary to reasonably assess the risk of nonylphenol (NP) and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) to aquatic organisms and, in certain limited circumstances, to industrial laundry workers.

This ANPR was expected as it was announced as part of EPA's response in 2007 to a Citizen's Petition filed by the Sierra Club and other nongovernmental organizations, including laundry labor unions. EPA's response at that time, which denied the majority of the requests in the Citizens' Petition, cited the extensive toxicological information already available for these compounds.

The Alkylphenols & Ethoxylates Research Council's review of the available studies for NP/NPEs continues to support our view that there is no need for additional testing to assess the risk of NP/NPEs and the Council will provide data supporting this view in comments to EPA in response to the ANPR.

EPA finalized ambient aquatic life water quality criteria (WQC) for NP in 2005.¹ WQC are concentrations in water that, when met, will protect aquatic life. A peer-reviewed paper published in 2007 found that 99% of NP concentrations in fresh surface waters are below the EPA WQC of 6.6 µg/L.² The paper by Klecka et al., presented a statistical analysis of monitoring data provided by 19 investigations of alkylphenol ethoxylates and their metabolites in US surface waters that were conducted over a 15 year period. The largest set of data was from studies conducted by the US Geological Survey (USGS). In addition, the weight-of-evidence provided by numerous existing studies on NP/NPEs in mammals support the human safety of these products in their current uses.

¹ US EPA. (2005, December). Aquatic life ambient water quality criteria - nonylphenol. Final Report 822-R-05-005. Office of Water, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA. http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria/nonylphenol/final-doc.pdf.
² Klecka, G., Zabik, J., Woodburn, K., Naylor, C., Staples, C., & Huntsman, B. (2007). Exposure analysis of C8- and C9-alkylphenols, alkylphenol ethoxylates, and their metabolites in surface water systems within the United States. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 13 (4), 792-822.

 

 

 

 

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