%0 Journal Article
%T ECOSM-a new joint project for assessing environmental risks of poorly soluble compounds used in cosmetics-project presentation
%A Stefanie KE Damme
%A Hans-Toni Ratte
%A Henner Hollert
%A Anja Coors
%A Thomas Knacker
%A Klaus Rettinger
%A Christoph Schulte
%A Andreas Sch£¿ffer
%J Environmental Sciences Europe
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2190-4715-23-30
%X 'Personal Care Products'; also referred to as cosmetic products or cosmetics in the European Union (EU), contain a multitude of chemicals used for different purposes. The chemicals used to introduce certain functions in personal care products show different properties. Due to some of these properties (e.g. low water solubility) environmental behavior and effects are not easily determined. For many of these substances, ecotoxicological testing is technically not feasible or very expensive. Due to this lack of appropriate testing tools, recent research is increasingly interested in this substance group [1]. 'Poorly soluble substances', which are characterised by low water solubility (< 1 mg/l), may constitute a substantial proportion of the ingredients in some 'personal care products'. Such ingredients with essential function are used in numerous cosmetic products, e.g. as emulsifiers. The extensive usage results in high production volumes and thereby requires an assessment of the environmental behavior and the toxicity of these substances to aquatic organisms to fulfill the requirements of the European Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation. For manufacturers or importers as responsible registrants, risk assessment is necessary to demonstrate product safety for human health and the environment. At the threshold of the water solubility of the substance, toxicity tests are very difficult to conduct and cannot be performed as a matter of routine. High lipophilicity and high adsorption potential might cause an extensive adsorption of the substance to surfaces, e.g. to the test vessels or test organisms. This might complicate testing procedures, and analytical determination of the substance. As a consequence, the measured concentrations in the test solution are likely to be significantly lower than the nominal concentrations. It also raises difficulties in quantifying the substances with analytical methods because of their
%K cosmetics
%K ecotoxicity
%K passive dosing
%K poorly water-soluble substances
%K personal care products
%U http://www.enveurope.com/content/23/1/30