ERASM-Joint industry research programmes for the environmental risk assessment of surfactants

The joint initiative of the European detergent and surfactant industries (A ISE, CESIO), called ERASM, was founded in 1991 as a response to the ongoing risk assessment activities in Europe. The activities of ERASM aim at a sci entifically sound environmental risk assessment of surfacfants used in dete rgents and involve work by industry expert groups as well as environmental research programmes sponsored by industry. The goals include programmes to improve the existing tools for risk evaluation and to enlarge knowledge abo ut the fate and impact of surfactants in environmental compartments. The ER ASM activities in recent years have focussed on the development of GREATER, a sophisticated calculation model allowing a visualised prediction of Chem icals concentration along a river, and on in-depth studies into the bioconc entration behaviour as well as the terrestrial fate and effects of importan t surfactant groups. Major contributions have also been made to an improved understanding of the role of surfactants in anaerobic environments, their influence on artificial river ecosystems and their possible impact to river s receiving untreated waste waters. The paper will review the background an d summarise the achievements of and the conclusions from these ERASM activi ties.