Toxicology of Industrial Compounds

350 TOXICOLOGY OF SURFACTANTS
long-term studies, the dosages that were tolerated without damage were in
the range of several thousand ppm, indicating large margins of safety. This
was confirmed by Hunter and Benson (1976), who calculated for a
relevant example that the respective dosage lies at least by a factor of 1000
over the estimated maximum daily exposure level of humans. Besides these
data from animal experiments, a series of studies exists in which volunteers
ingested considerable amounts of anionic or nonionic surfactants over
several weeks, without any noticeable severe adverse effects (Swisher,
1968).
Mutagenicity
Mutagenicity is the induction of irreversible changes in genetic material. If
normal cells (somatic cells) are the target, malformation results in
the developing organism. In case of the mature organism, it can lead to
tumour formation. If germ cells are the target, the danger exists that the
genetic defect will be passed on to the offspring. All classes of surfactants
have been evaluated in numerous test systems. The collected data allow the
conclusion that surfactants pose no considerable risk of genetic damage
(Yam et al., 1984; Fowler, 1988; Oba and Takei, 1992).
Carcinogenicity
Due to the widespread use and contact with surfactants the question of
irreversible damage has to be raised in addition to the problem of other
chronic effects. The following compounds were evaluated for
carcinogenicity after administration in the drinking water or feed:
alkylbenzene sulphonate (Buehler et al., 1971), alkyl sulphates (Fitzhugh
and Nelson, 1948), α-olefin
sulphonates (Hunter and Benson, 1976), secalkane
sulphonate (Quack and Rend, 1976), alcohol ether sulphates
(Tusing et al., 1962; Siwak et al., 1982), alcohol ethoxylates (Siwak et al.,
1982) and alkylphenol ethoxylates (Larson et al., 1963; Smyth and
Calandra, 1969). None of these experiments provided any indication of
increased risk of cancer after oral ingestion of surfactants. The question of
possible carcinogenic effects of surfactants on the skin has also been
studied extensively. Summaries exist by Oba and Takei (1992) and Siwak et
al. (1982).
Embryotoxicity
The effects of substances on the organism during pregnancy can lead to
delayed development or death of the embryo or malformation. Studies with
the following surfactants revealed no indications of embryotoxic activity:
alcohol ethoxylates (Nomura et al., 1980), α-olefin
sulphonates (Palmer et