Acute Toxicity and Ecological Risk Assessment of Benzophenone and N,N-Diethyl-3 Methylbenzamide in Personal Care Products

• Main Authors: Hong-Qin Sun, Yang Du, Zi-Yang Zhang, Wen-Jing Jiang, Yan-Min Guo, Xi-Wu Lu, Yi-Min Zhang, Li-Wei Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-09-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: benzophenone; N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide; personal care products; acute toxicity; ecological risk assessment
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/9/925

Benzophenone (BP) and N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) are two chemicals often used in personal care products (PCPs). There is a lack of systematic ecotoxicological evaluations about the two chemicals to aquatic organisms. In the present study, the acute toxic effects on Chlorella vulgaris, Daphnia Magana, and Brachydanio rerio were tested and the ecotoxicological risks were evaluated. For BP, the 96-h half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) on C. vulgaris was 6.86 mg/L; the 24-h median lethal concentration (LC50) on D. magana was 7.63 mg/L; the 96-h LC50 on B. rerio was 14.73 mg/L. For DEET, those were 270.72 mg/L, 40.74 mg/L, and 109.67 mg/L, respectively. The mixture toxicity of BP and DEET, on C. vulgaris, D. magana, and B. rerio all showed an additive effect. The induced predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs) for BP and DEET by assessment factor (AF) method are 0.003 mg/L and 0.407 mg/L, respectively. Both are lower than the concentrations detected from environment at present, verifying that BP and DEET are low-risk chemicals to the environment.