August 1995

UK DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT APPROVES LAS

In its end-of-year report, Britian’s Department of the Environment states that LAS is “readily biodegradable” and its widespread use in consumer products “poses no hazard to human health or the environment.”

This conclusion by the department’s technical committee on detergents and the environment follows an extensive review of the research and published literature, including the proceedings of several international symposia.

LAS has remained the major surfactant throughout the world, the report notes, because of its effectiveness, versatility, cost/performance and environmental safety.

These conclusions of Britain’s Department of the Environment are similar to other recent findings by the European Union, the Netherlands, and the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States.