Octyl phenol polyethoxylate

Work on oestrogenic effects has shown that the most commonly used phthalates do not produce any effect on human reproductive organs. Work on BPP, octyl phenol, octyl phenol polyethoxylate, and diethyl stilbestrol that had earlier suggested a reduction in testicular size in rats is being reinvestigated. 

In a recent study Sharpe et al. [25] fed low levels of BBP, octyl phenol, octyl phenol polyethoxylate and diethyl stilbestrol to pregnant rats. All the test chemicals caused a small reduction in testicular size of the offspring when they reached maturity however, effects on the ventral prostate were not observed with BBP. In addition, in unpublished studies, the same workers have seen no effects on the testes with BBP at a ten-fold increase in dose level or when administered subcutaneously. These findings have not been confirmed yet by other laboratories or in different animal species and strains and are contradicted by the recent uterotrophic assays [20, 22] outlined above. In addition Richard Sharpe has emphasized, both in the press and on television, the... 

Important classes of nonionic surfactants are aliphatic poly-ethoxylate alcohols (AEO), and octyl or nonyl phenol polyethoxylates (OPEO and NPEO). The alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEO) attracted special attention due to their supposedly endocrine disrupting properties (Ch. 8.3). LC-MS analysis may also involve nonylphenolethoxycarboxylates (NPEC), biodegradation products of NPEO, and halogenated analogues, generated in chlorine disinfection treatments in drinking water production plants. 

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