The household cleaning products contribute to the health and well-being of human life and mostly of these products are released into waste water. The aquatic safety of consumer products in the environment can be determined by a risk assessment that coupled both effects and exposure data. The toxicity of surfactants to aquatic organisms is related to chemical structure and environmental conditions. It was concerned that the aquatic effects of surfactants compared with monitored environmental concentration. Then, the surfactants in household laundry and cleaning products, posed no significant risks to the river ecosystems in Japan.
Biodegradation is a significant mechanism for removal of chemical substances in the environmental compartments. Therefore, the concept of biodegradability has become very important in the context of the control of chemical substances in view of their potential impact on the environment. Taking up the surfactants as examples, the role of environmental acceptability of the chemical substances to biodegradation is discussed.
Trends in high throughput analytical methods were described including our studies, chemical sensors based on potentiometry, capillary electrophoresis (CE), CE with mass spectrometry and microchip for surfactants and their degradation products in waters.