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Cases / Chemical pollution · Switzerland · 1984–2014

Nonylphenol ethoxylates: Swiss ban and EU restriction

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 3 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

EU Directive 2003/53/EC restricted nonylphenol and its ethoxylates from 17 January 2005. A Swiss ban on their use in laundry detergent in the 1980s is reported but not verified in the sources reviewed.

0.1%EU limit for nonylphenol and its ethoxylates in cleaning products
Directive 2003/53/EC; in force from 17 January 2005 (Danish EPA fact sheet).

Status As of the latest source reviewed: the EU restriction has applied since 17 January 2005; the Swiss ban and its measured effect on water concentrations are not verified.

What?
Nonylphenol and its ethoxylates were restricted in the EU from 2005; the US set a voluntary phase-out for industrial laundry detergents. EUR-Lex
Where?
European Union; United States (industrial laundry detergent); Switzerland (not verified). EUR-Lex
When?
EU restriction applied from 17 January 2005; US phase-out targets 2013 and 2014. EUR-Lex
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed beyond the properties of nonylphenol (toxic to aquatic life, endocrine-disrupting), which the sources describe without a primary URL.
How?
EU directive restriction with a 0.1% limit in cleaning products; US voluntary phase-out under an EPA action plan. Danish Environmental Protection Agency
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who

What happened

The record, in order.

Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE) are detergent ingredients that break down to nonylphenol in wastewater treatment. Nonylphenol is toxic to aquatic life and acts as an endocrine disruptor. The sources reviewed describe Switzerland as the first country to act, but the Swiss record is not verified in full (see unknown).

EU Directive 2003/53/EC restricted nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates. The restriction applied from 17 January 2005, per EUR-Lex. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency fact sheet gives a limit of 0.1% for cleaning products.

In the United States the Environmental Protection Agency set out a voluntary phase-out for nonylphenol ethoxylates in industrial laundry detergents, with 2013 for liquid and 2014 for powder products.

  1. 2003EU Directive 2003/53/EC adopted
  2. 200517 January: EU restriction on nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates applies
  3. 2013US EPA voluntary phase-out target for industrial laundry detergent, liquid products
  4. 2014US EPA voluntary phase-out target for industrial laundry detergent, powder products

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

    Recorded

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What nature saw

    Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

    Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

    EU limit in cleaning products
    0.1%
    Directive 2003/53/EC, in force 2005
    Water concentrations after the Swiss ban
    Not verified
    Reported to have fallen; the source page was not read in full

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
    No court caseNo independent ecological evaluation

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

    Court

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that a Swiss team showed in 1984 that NPE converts to nonylphenol, that Switzerland banned NPE in laundry detergent in 1986, and that nonylphenol concentrations in Swiss waters fell markedly afterwards (cited to the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, BAFU).
    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that OSPAR/PARCOM adopted a recommendation in 1992.
    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that ethoxylated substitutes such as alcohol ethoxylates generate 1,4-dioxane as a by-product, and cell experiments on dishwasher rinse-aid ingredients.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not established in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not established in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Government and regulators

    1. Directive 2003/53/EC
      EUR-Lex · 2003
    2. Fact sheet: nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates
      Danish Environmental Protection Agency ·
    4. Octylphenol, nonylphenol and their ethoxylates
      Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU) ·

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Institutions

    EPA
    The US Environmental Protection Agency.

    Science and environment

    PFOA (C8) and PFAS
    PFAS are a large family of human-made chemicals that persist in the environment and the body; PFOA, also called C8, is one of them and was used to make Teflon.
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