Bacteria Makes Scary Things Scarier

Surfactants are chemicals that are used in the production of detergents, pesticides, and plastics. According to the Environmental Working Group, surfactants are highly toxic to aquatic organisms, and suspected endocrine disruptors. Endocrine disrupting chemicals are chemicals that mimic or inhibit natural hormones. Endocrine disruptors have been linked to reproductive disorders, alterations in neurodevelopment, cancer, immune suppression and other negative health effects in humans and in wildlife.

Think thats scary? Researchers from Europe have just found that when bacteria and microbes break these surfactants down, they degrade into a chemical known as nonylphenol. Numerous studies have shown that this breakdown product is toxic and endocrine-disrupting. Because it mimics the natural hormone estrogen, organisms treat this chemical as if it was estrogen. In fact, at levels as low as 50−100 parts per billion (ppb), nonylphenol is capable of feminizing male fish.

Nonylphenol and nonyphenol ethoxylates, the surfactants that break down to nonylphenol, have been banned in the European Union because of their hazardous nature to human and environmental safety. Current regulations in the U.S., however, don't take into account the complexity of breakdown products, despite the fact that many common chemicals break down into more toxic substances.

Source: Environ. Sci. Technol., 2008, 10.1021/es800577a