Coming clean with alkylphenols

Norway will ban the production, import, use, and distribution of most uses of two ubiquitous industrial surfactants that are toxic to aquatic organisms and are suspected endocrine disruptors—namely nonylphenol ethoxylates and octylphenol ethoxylates—as of Jan. 1, 2002.

While Norway’s ban is the first in Europe, other countries have also restricted the use of these chemicals, primarily through voluntary phaseouts with industry, and the European Union as a whole is moving toward a ban.

Paints, varnishes, and lubricating oils are exempt from Norway’s ban because of the lack of suitable alternatives. Moreover, use of these products results in only a small proportion of total discharges to the environment, according to Norway’s Pollution Control Authority. Alternatives exist for many of the other industrial uses, the most relevant being fatty alcohol ethoxylates.

Companies are under no regulatory pressure in the United States to move toward alternatives, but some are doing so because of actions in Europe, says Bob Fensterheim with the Alkylphenols and Ethoxylates Research Council, a North American trade organization. —KRIS CHRISTEN