Körperpflegemittel in der aquatischen Umwelt

Personal care products (PCP) are produced and used in enormous amounts world-wide. In the early 1990s, the annual production volume was more than 550.000 metric tonnes for Germany alone, where liquid bath admixtures, soaps, skin care products, shampoos and dental care products represented the main use patterns of PCPs. These preparations and their ingredients are quasi-continuously introduced into the aquatic environment during regular use, preferably via municipal wastewater treatment plants, and may reach concentrations in the ng/l or μg/l range in surface waters. Furthermore, considerable persistence and bioaccumulation potential has been shown for a number of PCPs (e.g. musk fragrances, disinfectants, antiseptics, some repellents, sunscreen agents). Except for the most important detergents and surfactants used in PCPs, the possible consequences of a chronic exposure of aquatic organisms to these compounds have not been investigated systematically to date. The information on the occurrence of PCPs in different environmental compartments is also rather fragmentary. It is the main objective of this article to provide an overview on the available literature concerning the environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology of selected PCP ingredients (e.g. fragrances, preservatives and antioxidants, disinfectants and antiseptics, repellents, sunscreen agents) The set of data on the occurrence and concentrations of PCPs in the environment and the effects in representative aquatic organisms is insufficient for the majority of the groups of substances considered and does not allow an assessment of their environmental risk. The example of musk fragrances, which represent one of the better analysed groups of PCP ingredients, shows that these compounds tend to accumulate in sediments and biota (including human beings) due to their inherent physicochemical properties, and are likely to attain considerable concentration levels. However, the knowledge about effects in aquatic organisms is rather incomplete and partially contradictory. Furthermore, detailed investigations of their potential reproductive, neuro-, immuno-and genotoxicity are lacking not only for musk fragrances, but also for the overwhelming majority of other PCP ingredients.