Risk and Exposure Assessment of Nonylphenols and Their Related Compounds. Y. Ishikawa, L. Bin-Le, K. Miyamoto, A. Tokai, and J. Nakanishi, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
In order to estimate possible risks associated with the use of these products as surface active agents in a wide range of industrial and agricultural applications, risk assessment for nonylphenols (NPs) and their ethoxylates (NPEs) was performed in terms of ecotoxicological effects on the aquatic environment in Japan. Then we need to investigate the relationship between the amounts of emissions and the ambient exposure concentrations of NP and NPE. However, the available data of their observations of NP in Japan was very limited as the observations have been conducted once or twice a year since 1998 and the number of monitoring points was insufficient to make a classification of emission sources. In this study, we employed some statistical approaches to quantify a typical probabilistic distribution as the predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) of NP, its final degradation products of NPE, on the assumption that the variability of aquatic concentrations of NP depends on the emissions of NPE and the environmental variables such as flow rate of the rivers examined. We concluded that the NP concentrations in the water environment in Japan have been obviously decreasing for the period of 1998 and 2000 and discussed here the causes of these decreases in the concentrations.
The emission amounts of NPE for the use of domestic and industrial use are getting drastically low by voluntary action taken by industrial sectors in Japan. Since the current or future emissions of NP are decreasing gradually and hardly expected to cause any serious hazardous effects, we then clarify risk-benefit perspective of the following measures; alternative substances, reinforcement of industrial waste water treatment, reinforcement of sewerage treatment plant.
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