Safety of surfactants


Biological changes caused by surfactants and their metabolites in the body, i.e. possible side effects on the body include acute toxicity, subacute toxicity, chronic toxicity, impact on reproduction, embryotoxicity, teratogenicity, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, sensitization, hemolysis, etc. Surfactants contact with different parts of human body in different ways, which will put forward different requirements for the above side effects.


Surfactants are widely used in the systems that contact with human body, such as drugs, food, cosmetics and personal hygiene products. With the improvement of human living standards, people pay more and more attention to the toxic and side effects of surfactants in various formulas that contact with human body. For different purposes, the focus of surfactant is mainly on the irritation to mucous membrane, sensitization to skin, toxicity, heredity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity and hemolysis, digestive absorption, biodegradation, etc. For example, for cosmetics, in the past, the principle of selecting ingredients was mainly to dress up beautiful, and the selection of surfactants was only to consider how to achieve the best first effect or main effect, such as cleaning, foaming, emulsifying, dispersing, etc.; secondly, the second effect or auxiliary effect was considered, with little or no consideration of the impact of surfactants on the natural state of skin, hair, etc. Now, the selection principle of surfactant gradually tends to consider how to give full play to the best main and auxiliary efficacy of surfactant under the premise that it can protect the normal and healthy state of skin and hair and produce as few side effects as possible on human body. This development trend makes the suppliers, formulators and manufacturers of surfactant raw materials face a challenge, that is, how to re recognize and evaluate the safety and gentleness of surfactants, and provide consumers with the safest, gentlest and most effective products. Therefore, it is necessary to reevaluate the safety and mildness of the original surfactants and new surfactants.


Cationic surfactants are often used as disinfectants and fungicides, which have strong killing effect on all kinds of bacteria, molds and fungi, but also toxic side effects. They can reduce the function of the central nervous system and respiratory system, and make the stomach congested. The toxicity of anionic surfactant is relatively low. In the range of normal application concentration, it will not cause acute toxicity damage to human body, but after oral administration, it will cause gastrointestinal discomfort and diarrhea. Nonionic surfactants belong to low toxicity or non-toxic category, which are non-toxic after oral administration. Among them, peg is the lowest toxicity, followed by sugar ester, AEO, span and tween, and alkylphenol polyether is the higher toxicity.


From the data listed in Table II, the toxicity of non-ionic surfactants is generally higher than that of anionic surfactants for aquatic animals.


Subacute and chronic toxicity tests usually take a long time. Due to the differences between experimental animals and other experimental conditions, it is difficult to compare various data. However, it is generally believed that the subacute and chronic toxicity test results of non-ionic surfactants are non-toxic, long-term use will not cause pathological reactions, but some varieties will increase the absorption of fat, vitamins or other substances, or cause reversible functional changes of some organs when taking large doses orally. Therefore, non-ionic surfactants can be used as high safety substances Use. Nonionic surfactants are often used as emulsifiers in food. Sometimes, the functions of surfactants such as foaming, defoaming, wetting, dispersing, anti crystallization, anti-aging, anti rebirth, water conservation, sterilization and anti-oxidation are also needed. Surfactants used as food emulsifiers are strictly limited. Generally, only a few varieties are approved for use. Some of them are also limited by the daily intake (ADI, mg / kg) index, that is, the maximum dose that the human body continuously ingests a certain additive and does not have an invasive impact on the human body per unit weight.