The intrinsic property of a substance to be injurious to an aquatic organism in a short-term exposure to that substance.

Aquatic toxicity is a form of inherent hazard. A primary objective of the CleanGredients database is to provide guidance for choosing chemicals that are inherently less hazardous than conventional options. Products formulated with safer chemicals have lower risk associated with accidents or exposure across the product lifecycle.

For a surfactant to be listed in CleanGredients, its aquatic toxicity data must be evaluated by an approved third party. You must submit information on its contents, including all CAS numbers for chemicals intentionally added or present in your product at amounts >0.1% by mass for third-party review to NSF International or ToxServices LLC (not including unexpected residuals that may be present in individual lots).

Substances that result in acute aquatic toxicity are assigned to one of three toxicity categories: LC50 (fish) or EC50 (crustacea — i.e., daphnia) or ErC50 (for algae or other aquatic plants). The preferred acute aquatic toxicity test methods are:

• OECD Test No. 203, Fish, Acute Toxicity Test; [OPPTS 850.1075]
• OECD Test No. 201, Algae, Acute Toxicity Test; [OPPTS 850.5400]
• OECD Test No. 202, Daphnia, Acute Toxicity Test; [OPPTS 850.1010]
Other similar or relevant test methods will be accepted, including data from older ISO, CFR, and ASTM tests. Though test data is preferred, modeled data (i.e., using the PBT profiler) is acceptable. Please include the following endpoints:
• Fish (LC50)
• Daphnia (EC50)
• Algae (ErC50)
For each entry include the species, the duration of exposure, and the test method (enter in the appropriate text boxes).